THOUSANDS of volunteers help contribute more than £27m to the city every year.

More than 55,000 people in Oxford give up their time to help others in the city and today are being celebrated internationally.

The dedicated contribution, which amounts to £27.6m every year in Oxford, is being celebrated as part of UN International Volunteer Day.

To mark the international day Oxford City Council has released numbers for the exact impact the city's volunteer's have on thousands of people's lives every year.

Mum of two Tenika Blake, from Cutteslowe, gives up her time to work with two community projects OxJam, annual music festival in aid of Oxfam, and Oxford Mental Health Support Network.

She said: "I was just looking for something extra to do and saw an advert for OxJam as a marketing assistant.

"I really enjoyed taking part and I learned a lot.

"I knew a little about Oxfam and the marketing side was an interest for me, I also really love music so it covered all bases."

The 29-year-old has worked with the project for almost two years now to help put on a host of musical events every October to raise money for charity Oxfam.

Ms Blake and a core team of about three volunteers work from March each year to put on the Oxford event, with added help from about 30 volunteers on the day.

She added: I have met some really great friends through it and really enjoy helping out."

The latest statistics from Oxford City Council were pulled together by charity Student Hubs which surveyed 185 organisations in Oxford.

It found volunteers give up roughly 3,082,604 hours every year and the monetary contribution is thought to be about £27.6m.

Oxford City Council executive board member for culture and communities Christine Simm said: "I am so proud of the passion and commitment of Oxford’s volunteers. They come from such a broad range of backgrounds and make a huge contribution in many different ways, each and every day, to the residents of the city."

Ms Blake has also recently volunteered part time with the Oxford Mental Health Support Network, a new project hoping to act as a hub of support information.

She said: "As a user of the service myself, I have been involved in a lot of mental health campaigns and through this saw the volunteering opportunity.

"It is quite a new project which is basically about pulling together all the information on support services in Oxford and has been set up by university students.

"As students they have lots of connections and information for support, whereas the general public often end up on waiting lists or through the NHS."

Ms Blake hopes to help the project connect with people within the community and help to offer a pool of support services as a 'mental health search engine'.

From today, Oxford City Council will be promoting volunteer opportunities in the city with a host of films featuring local volunteers and campaigns.

It will be using the hashtag #Oxfordvolunteers, for more information see oxford.gov.uk/volunteer