Kent Voluntary Sector Emergency Group celebrated ahead of national Volunteers' Week (2 - 8 June)

Kent Resilience Forum
May 29
2 min read

South East 4X4 Response Volunteers are members of KMRF's Kent Voluntary Sector Emergency Group

To mark the Volunteers' Week, the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum (KMRF) is paying tribute to its incredible Kent Voluntary Sector Emergency Group (KVSEG), which brings together front-line voluntary sector , organisations to support communities and engage in incident response and recovery.

In its 40th year, Volunteers’ Week encourages links between national organisations and community groups across the UK, celebrating the essence of volunteering that strengthens communities.

Members of the KVSEG, formed over 15 years ago and made up of over twenty organisations, came together to showcase their capabilities at a community resilience themed KMRF seminar 2025, hosted by the KMRF at the Kent Showground, in Detling.

The event served as a platform for numerous voluntary organisations to exhibit their resources and connect with emergency service and other resilience partners. A diverse array of response equipment was on display, including various response and support vehicles, drones, inflatable rescue boats, flood defence equipment, and a broad selection of informative materials.

Voluntary sector partners from the group are frequently on hand to provide support to communities at large scale incidents and emergencies, such as flooding, fires, and severe weather incidents. They support KMRF training and exercises and can help coordinate a wide range of activities, from search capabilities, communications and technical support, transportation, and welfare, pastoral, and humanitarian provision.

Volunteer Flood Wardens play a vial role in communities

This week, the KMRF is also celebrating the 228 trained volunteer flood wardens that help to support local communities across the county, giving up their time to ensure they are ready to provide additional help to residents in the event of local flooding.

Volunteers’ week provides a unique opportunity to reflect on the amazing and vital contribution that these volunteers, along with the many other voluntary and community sector and local infrastructure organisations make to communities in Kent and Medway.

During the last year:

14.2 million people in the UK have formally volunteered at least once a month
Volunteering added £4.6 billion in productivity gains to the UK economy in 2024
Twenty-five million people in the UK volunteered informally at least once in the year.

To find out more about the organisations that make up the Kent Voluntary Sector Emergency Group (KVSEG) visit: Our volunteer partners | Kent Prepared.

To find out more about becoming a volunteer flood warden and to express your interest in receiving training visit: Flood wardens | Kent Prepared