News

One of our longest serving volunteers, Ann Marie Dockerill, explains how she got the volunteering bug, and how much she has enjoyed helping the Foundation over so many years.  Volunteers like Ann Marie – and her sister Julie –really are part of the Foundation’s team.  We couldn’t do so much without their help and generosity.  If you are interested in volunteering for the Foundation, you can find out more here.   

My sister Julie and I first volunteered for the Rangers Charity Foundation in August 2006. We were season ticket holders and saw an appeal at the match for volunteers for the first ever Blue Nose Day at Ibrox. I’ve always been a bit of a serial volunteer but it was quite a new thing for Julie to do, but we were both excited to help.

The Blue Nose Day was such a heart-warming day. We got to sell blue noses and some prize winning noses to the kids in the Family Section.

“It was so rewarding to muck around with the kids and see their faces when they realised they had just won the opportunity to go to a training session and watch the players. What a buzz that was!”

We were also asked to go sell raffles at the hospitality suites where we had a bit of a rough start. We turned up in smart jeans instead of dress clothes, oops someone forgot to tell us, but we had such a laugh selling raffles and engaging in some banter with the supporters and knew we definitely wanted to do it again (dressed appropriately next time!)

As two very organised ladies, the Foundation quickly saw that we were confident enough to manage the suites on match day and for the next 8 years we consistently collected a fabulous amount of donations and sold raffles to generous Rangers supporters using all the persuasive techniques we could think of and having so much fun doing so.

Over the years we helped at Race Nights, charity walks and the fabulous Rangers Charity Foundation Ball to name but a few. We have also taken part in some personal challenges which have ranged from dangerous to cold and uncomfortable but always, always enjoyable.

Sadly my sister Julie passed away in 2014 and while this was a very difficult time for me and my family, the Foundation where amazingly supportive by recognising her with a tribute on their social media pages and most incredibly by creating the Julie Wales Special Recognition Award in her name, which is awarded to an individual, group or organisation who have gone above and beyond for the Foundation. They truly do appreciate their supporters and realise what a vital part of their organisation we are.

“I love volunteering for the Foundation as I get to meet lots of people, from all different walks of life, from volunteers and staff, to the amazing supporters who take part in personal challenges to raise large amounts of money for very worthy charities.”

I’m now inching towards 12 years of volunteering for this fabulous charity, and hope to continue volunteering for a long time to come. I would encourage anyone who is interested in helping to contact them. There is nothing more satisfying in life than donating your time for the benefit of others and it just takes that one event to get you hooked on that feeling.