Gill Godber: raising awareness of disability [21 Stories]

Gill is one of CBM UK’s most long serving and active volunteers, working tirelessly and with passion to raise funds and awareness since 2006.

“We moved to Cambridge when my husband Peter retired. Being only 43 and a half, I wasn’t quite ready for retirement! I started volunteering and now work as CBM’s Voluntary Fundraiser and speaker in Cambridgeshire. My church also supports CBM – for them I am a channel, a point of contact to connect with CBM. It’s a ‘labour of love’ for me.

I was fortunate enough to see CBM’s work in Vietnam. It was life-changing. I will never forget meeting a young man, a 21-year-old quadriplegic. He had fallen off some scaffolding at work. After treatment, he returned to his mother’s house. He became suicidal and had been lying in the corner of the house for two years before CBM workers found him. He received a wheelchair, training, physiotherapy, counselling and a loan to start up a business. He got his life back.

If you’d like to become a CBM volunteer, go for it! Share your passion and at the same time volunteer. If you like running or baking – run or bake for CBM. In 2015 I approached my husband’s choir asking them to sing their next concert in aid of CBM. They raised over £500.

Volunteering is a bit like life, the more you put in, the more you receive back.”

This is one of the 21 Stories. Read more stories celebrating those who have shaped our work