A recent conversation about my past work has left this one tumbling about in my mind, so I figured I'd write it up and see

Anyone who has worked in the volunteer industry knows about the major volunteer crisis affecting certain regions badly over the last few years now. I can understand peoples reluctance to volunteer when it puts their own lives at risk, someone I went to school with is a part-time volunteer fire fighter, he risks his life for nothing, so do people who work in mountain rescue and out on the lifeboats by way of example. I've done loads of voluntary work over the years including shop work, National Trust stewarding, worked as a volunteer in our local picture house, and also as a volunteer advocate as well which was both fascinating, challenging and rewarding. I loved being able to kick the local authorities arses

People tend to give their time more when there's a crisis because it draws immediate attention and needs help there and then obviously. But what is it that makes people volunteer their time? There are always the 'do-gooders' who want everyone to know what they're doing etc, who are spotted a mile off for being in it for the status but there are genuine people who give their time each week, or daily to help with things that we often take for granted. Many of whom never talk about their work. To be a Samaritan takes someone of great mental strength, it is not something I could do, the CAB is a place I rely on and the majority of their staff are volunteers too, but this resource is somewhere I rely on a lot.

There is usually little or no reward for volunteers, infact many just get abuse (volunteer police and firemen come to mind here ) , many risk their lives, some lose their lives because of doing something that they believe in to help others. I miss volunteering, I started when I was eight working out the back of the Oxfam shop with my mum during the summer holidays, I never realised that ten years on from that I would run my own shop for another eleven years before ill health forced me to give up work. I know I volunteer on here as a Mod, and certainly wouldn't spend all my free time on here if I didn't find it mentally rewarding, (not to mention mentally and physically knackering though sometimes ) but what is it that makes people give up their time for free without reward or incentive often to risk life and limb for others? And also why do some think those who volunteer are idiots to do something for free? Why shouldn't we when it helps others? Without volunteers this country would fall apart, all aspects of society are helped by volunteers in some way or other.

Could you risk your life to help others on a regular basis? I am happy to admit that I am certainly not strong enough for that. If you volunteer for something why do you do it and in what way do you find it rewarding?

Kind of jumbled up but you get the giest (sp!) so, what are your thoughts on volunteers/volunteering then?

Depends on what they're volunteering for I volunteer as a fence judge for a number of horse trials throughout the season, spending days sitting in the 9!$$!&6 rain fence judging, acting as a collecting ring steward, stringing courses, putting up showjumps, basically doing whatever needs doing. But then without volunteers the sport wouldn't function. Its that simple. I volunteer to do this because I love the sport - I love watching horses in the peak of fitness (and shaggy coated podgy hacks at lower level events ) taking part, seeing the riders learn and enjoy their rides, and getting the chance to nose around the parkland on estates like Windsor, Blenheim, Weston and Sandsaw free of charge But then as you say I know people who volunteer in order to be able to say 'I was at...', who want to be able to say 'I've met...' and who wouldn't be able to describe the scenery they've spent all day sitting in if their lives depended on it. They buy the Barbour jackets and the Hunter wellies and off they go for a nice day's posing in the sun... Okay - breathe girl. Stop growling...

So yes, there are people who volunteer for self-serving reasons, but then I also know people who volunteer for cave rescue, SARDA (Search and Rescue Dog Association) volunteers, voluntary firemen, and I really don't think that anyone prepared to put that much training and accept those kind of risks is likely to be doing it purely for the 'look at me' factor.

I volunteer for a couple of charities regularly. Both were as a way to fill my time when I first came down to the West Country, as I didn't have a job. Now thanks to the fact that I work part time, I can continue with them which I really appreciate.

1) The National Trust, where I help to make the tudor costumes and as a re-enactor who wears 'em. I did this initially because I wanted to learn more about costuming, and it just happened that the re-enacting bit has come along and I'm really interested in a period that I don't normally portray (I'm medieval usually). I have also started playing the harp at the property too, which is wonderful for me as it is very adhoc, and broadens my performance horizons.

2) I also work for the local version of Help the Aged. Originally a way of learning more about the local village, I've come to find lots of new friends through it aswell. Not always easy though ~ due to the nature of the Drop~In Centre, we often have to say goodbye to several attendees a year as they pass on to the SummerLands . . .

As I work in the operating department of a local hospital, I feel that I do enough for the community in my role as a nurse. These volunteer jobs are for my benefit and I continue to do them because they are enjoyable.

BB

Ebren

It is very rewarding isn't it? It is very key to todays societys needs and so often gets totally under-rated and over looked. Your post Oxon, reminded me of the Herriot story where he encountered the full horrors of the competing pony club 'in-crowd' at a gymkarna (sp!)

Ebren, I'm jealous of your National Trust work, it sounds so great

I volunteered last summer, at the local humane society, for cats and dogs.

I just worked with the cats, bc I love cats!

I got special permission , to come in early, before people showed up~eek., lol.

It became my special alone time, with the cats, a way to give back.

I didn't have any, well much money and felt the need to
contribute, do something.

At first, it was hard, bc (because) I get attached really easily.

I didn't do any cage cleaning, my basic function was to simply love on the cats, make sure they all got hugs. Socialize them, very important, in helping them get adopted.

There were 30 cages, they had strict policys, and the managers were great!!

I got to know and love alot of them. The room I worked in, was the no-kill, just waiting for adoption, otherwise, I couldn't have done it!!

I usually spent 1-2 hrs, several times a wk there. Would still be there, if I hadn't have moved across country.

Sometimes, I felt soo sad for some, bc they had been there for months and was always really happy, when someone adopted them.

I felt like what I did made a difference. All creatures, need love and I've become even more admanant about keeping cats inside.. Sometimes, the paid workers, most whom loved the dogs, were in too much of a rush, and i made sure all the kitties had toys, food, water~ tho the shelter was pretty good about that.

The cages were also big, but still when we got a 20 lb cat in, not much room and some of the cats really needed a playing area..

Yet, after moving, I went to the local no kill cat shelter. Total opposite, of the other one! Cats all out, roaming about. I like that better, yet, sigh, have heard they have alot more diseases. Also, I was totally overwhelemed with how many cats , there were! I felt guilty, not being able to get to them all..


Right now, without a car, can't volunteer, but am definately thinking of doing, it again in the future. Very very rewarding.


Cats are the best!! I say keep them inside, safe and neutered!

Blessings Whisperedwind~









I

I volunteer to help running club stuff at uni and then through that the office the oversees all 90-100 clubs.
Currently its being a shit week with it, 20 clubs up on misconduct for everything from verbally abusing people to doctoring audits to failing to meeting constitutional requirements. And because we can't punish the officers, we have to punish the clubs and the hundreds of students that are involved in them by restricting their funding, priveleges and other stuff. And their wil be other times when somebody decides verbal abuse is a good thing
When its a good week its great. You get to meet so many people, with so many ideas for clubs and events, and the stuff they are working on.
I've learnt so much, how to keep books, how to do paperwork, write minutes, cook for a hundred people over a weekend and on budget, run workshops, camps, meetings, write constitutions, newsletters, magazines, organise annual dinners, work as part of a team, write budgets, learning to be fair and impartial and knowing when to use the stick and when the carrot, and on and on and on.

i volunteer for the state emergency service (ses). it started out as something to fill my time with, but i soon found it was really interesting, the things i learnt. it's hard sometimes, but always worth it. one of my best friends is a volunteer junkie. he does ses, rural volunteer fire service, volunteers at a home for the elderly twice a week, is on his university student rep council, and does numerous referee/umpiring for local sporting events. i've asked why he does all this before, and he said it's to keep active while doing something constructive.

I work in a paid job for I am proud to say the biggest voluntary organisation in the world, BUT I am also a volunteer for the same organisation, making a difference is something that cant be weighed in money, I worked on a lifeboat for 11 years and I would not change the memory of peoples faces when you help them.
I look at the so called caring professionals and see blank faces and jobsworth atitudes you dont get that from volunteers. I was teaching some people first aid yesterday and the meeting was held at the social services offices and as I waited to start I watched dozens of supposed carers coiming in for other meetings and was saddened by their faces cold hard sarcastic and I thought would I want these people looking after me if I was ill or down on my luck and the answer was most deffinatley NO. Volunteers are a special breed and because they are not driven by money they do whatever job for its own merit. If all the volunteers decided to quit tomorrow the country would grind to a halt. Let me leave you with this in the day and age when youngsters are percieved as trouble an estimated 75,000 children care for disabled parents or siblings with no moeny or recognision. Long live the volunteer.

Not all careworkers are hardened and uncaring ~ but remember we work often long shifts, are 'required' to cover on our days off and get the worst jobs with not even a word of thanks. Just because we get paid doesn't mean we don't appreciate a kind word . . .

Ebren

I'm sure Ebren that Niord hadnt meant all, after all his wife (Rhi here on the boards) is a nurse

And Niord, I never knew you were a Lifeboat man, much respect to you

Then I am even more confused with his post . . . Surely he has more experience of paid carers than that quoted?

A puzzled Ebren

Then I am even more confused with his post . . . Surely he has more experience of paid carers than that quoted?

A puzzled Ebren


I have been a carer all my working life both paid and unpaid and have always been of the opinion that some people care for money not all but some in my post it may have seemed I was talking about every carer in the world but this is not the case and I apologise it I gave that impression I was just annoyed by the so called caring people who past in front of me yesterday I was talking about no one else Their are of course some wonderful carers out there but their are also some horrendous carers as well.
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but remember we work often long shifts, are 'required' to cover on our days off and get the worst jobs with not even a word of thanks. Just because we get paid doesn't mean we don't appreciate a kind word . . .
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I am one of the we you are talking about ebren what I was talking about was the atitude of some paid workers as opposed to someone who volunteers this does not mean some people arnt lucky enough to be paid for what they do. People in the caring professions sometimes forget the reason they became cares to care and I am sure you have come across people like that or people who should never be carers in the first place.
My wife was told off because she visited after her working hours a house where their was an inexperianced carer looking after a dying man to support them both in their crisis. what sort of carers are these that run to her boss with the tale and her boss who told her off for it. So ebren please dont get me wrong when posting on the net its easy to misread and to mis write so if I upset you I am sorry.

We operate this type of shelter, but all of our cats are immunised before they go into the big enclosures. Including bordetella becuase we had an outbreak recently.

The volunteers we have vary, we have the ones the throw money at the place and think it gives them the right to order people about, we have others who work quietly away and never seek praise it does take all sorts. The one thing I can't do is bow down to the bossy ones. Other staff say things like "oh but she helps us loads" I point out that it does not give them the right to treat us like dirt. We are the ones that are in there every day, we are the ones that take all the grief from the public when we can't help them cause we are overcrowded or the grief because they don't meet our criteria for homing an animal. We are the ones the deal with the animals that come in sick, injured, starved through cruelty no one has the right to boss us about and treat us like dirt. Yes we get paid for doing stuff that they pop in to do from time to time but we get paid only because the government will not allow you to work 40 hours for nothing. Most of the staff put in many more hours than that, they get called out on days off, in the middle of the night for injured animals but people think we should be voluntary. I would love to be, but I have to live.

Sorry that turned into a bit of a rant.

Heres my wee fourpennorth. I have worked as a carer both in the voluntary and statutory sector all of my life. During my work as an informal carer ( voluntary ) and as a paid carer for a charity I found the attitude and warmth of the people there unsurpassed. Yeah we worked long hours and suffered trauma caring for people in acute crisis but there was a significant difference in attitude. I am now a nurse and I work within a local authority set up and I find the whole system soul destroying - there are some fab carers ie informal, voluntary within my locality but there are also the paid carers that staff supported living set ups that make me groan with frustration - BUT there are some good ones too so all facets of humanity are there. The building I work in is dreadful engenders a kind of faceless persona that people slip into as the system grabs them and they conform drives me mad and I refuse to be like that hecne my carers for that is who I am responsible for ( carers over 65) say I am like a breath of fresh air and thank goodness for that I say! I wrote a poem not long back that was on the old site that got misinterpreted at the time tho why Ive no idea but was aimed at people bowed down with the burden of caring ie social workers - so I'll put it here and see if people get the message!


To the People who care

When you fuss and fret with the forms that pile
Don’t forget to listen or forget to smile
When the phone is red hot and there’s no end to the day
Remember to think and remember don’t sway
Don’t forget why we are here
Doing this job till the last
For the good of the people
Who sometimes can’t ask?

When you fuss and fret when the end is so far
Don’t forget your conviction that shining star
That caring isn’t pc that we cannot be seen
To be involved with our client or dare even to glean
The merest of insights that brighten their day
So when you fuss and fret don’t be frightened to share
To listen and cherish what they reveal from that chair

Sometimes it’s so hard not to become cynical and numb
When the system kicks back and your efforts are shunned
But remember the lady whose life you have changed
Who can now sleep at night and who is no longer in pain
So don t forget as you mumble and tear round apace
That there’s a reason we are here and a reason we trace
Each case with a care and with tenderness we work
Each person is precious their life we wont shirk!

Rhi 19/2/04

I hadn't read that before Rhi, it's great!

A lot of people volunteer for no other reason than to give back to the community something they have had to get from the community at one time, or because they see the community come together when there's a crisis. Like a fire that needs to be put out by vol. firemen or the Red Cross helping firefighters with cool drinks in a time of a major fire where they work like dogs fighting it or vol. ambulance people and Emergency Medical Technician that provide needed rescue services.

I volunteer for a food bank in my community and help out in soup kitchens only because I know from experience how easy becoming homeless can be, especially if family and friends are to overburden or non-existand and one needs to survive by their own wits.

And I know what Niord is talking about as well as I have seen those same faces on people who are volunteering because it's needed for school credits yet have a problem with looking down on the very same people they are trying to help. I've also seen what Smiter is talking about as well when people, usually with means, throw money around and feel the need to boss people around yet don't feel it necessary to do the 'dirty' work.

I think there are a lot of benefits to volunteering. You may learn something new, it helps with self esteem in that you know you are doing something for others with no expected compensations except in the eyes of those you are helping and it helps people to realize that there are more people who live without to just get by and those who can't even do that though no fault of their own.

I volunteer for "Young Persons Project" at university. We go to secondary schools in disadvantaged areas, and just chat with the students. The official aim of the project is to encourage them into higher education, but early on I realised that that isn't right for most of them.
I have done this for two years now, and hope to make it three. We visit them once a week for a term, then have a weekend residential at college.

I think the most important thing it does is make the students believe in thmselves. Even the shy ones end up having fun over the weekend.

I'm still in contact with a student from the first year I did this. She has had a very tough life so far, but I'm happy to say she has got through it all. I'm so so proud of her. She is going to college in September and hopes to be a police constable. Obviously, I can't tell what she's been through, but a lesser adult would have folded long long ago. The fact that she is going to college, and has ambitions is all the inspiration I need to go on volunteering for this group.
When I first started doing this is was for selfish reasons. I wanted to have it to put on my CV, sounded like fun and made me look caring. Now, I truly care about all the students I've worked with. It makes me so happy that the girl can come to me when she feels down, when something happens at home, but she also tells me when she is happy.

If anyone ever has the chance to volunteer for something like this, go for it.

i volunteer at a charity called Dreadnought, they have centres in penzance, cambourne/pool, bodmin and a few other places

i started because i had to do work experience and my uncle worked there, now i like doing it and volunteer for 2 evening groups a week

i do it now because i am a good point in the young peoples' life, they trust me and are quite open with me

also it has made me choose my career path, i'm off to uni next year to do Health and Social Care Management and hopefully at the end of it i can go into youth work, if not then i'll find my way back into Dreadnought or i'll go and work in a childrens home or something

i could never voluntarily put my life on the line like volunteer firefighters, although i do admire that they can do that, i just like where i am

plus where i volunteer i get to learn new skills, like making beaded crocs for keyrings and stuff i have as much fun as them and its great

When my son was small, I used to do volunteer work at his school, helping with the various classes that are too much for a teacher to run AND get on with the day to day stuff too. I taught sewing (with that binca stuff), pottery (with quick drying modelling clay, no need for a kiln), and reading. The look on a child's face when they can read a page from a book is indescribable - they're so delighted with themselves, and really in awe of it as well, as though they're thinking "gods, I can do that!!". It's an amazing feeling.

I did it for about four years, and then work took over and I didn't have time, but myself and a gang of mums used to get together at Giftmas and put on a pantomime for the kids, so that the school didn't have to pay for a Giftmas entertainment - it was a great laugh, but really nerve-wracking, stepping out on the stage dressed as a pirate, or an Egyptian, or a cowboy, in front of 400 children!

Work has definitely taken over now - I have a full time job and a part time one, and occasionally I do two other part time jobs too, so I don't have time to volunteer any more. I wouldn't be able to commit the time, because the main job means I work shifts, and the other jobs can happen at any time really, and I wouldn't want to let anyone down.

However, I can understand completely what Niord said, but from a slightly different perspective. I work in a hospital, and yes, all the staff here are paid, but there are a lot of nursing staff who have come in to nursing not because they have a desire to care for people but because it's a career, and they want to get out of actual hands-on nursing as soon as they can and off in to the managerial side of the NHS. Nurses like that really don't give two hoots for their patients, and they have the kind of faces that Niord described so accurately - hard, uncaring and completely closed down. The nurses who are here because they want to care for people have a completely different look, and the room feels different when they're in it - a lot more vibrant, and the patients respond to it almost instantly, too.

Volunteers are so important in so many aspects of our lives, sometimes without us realising it - we wouldn't have a hospital shop or a cafe here if it wasn't for the volunteers, nor would a lot of patients have visitors without the volunteers who do that, either.

All hail to those of you who do - you have my deepest admiration.

BB
Mint

My first volunteering job, that I remember, was the Red Cross in Reading. I actually found it hugely therapeutic. I loved steaming the clothes, measuring them and the label gun...I was the kind of kid to play post office a lot

Although I'm a volunteer here in Africa, I also volunteer on top of that - set up my own NGO and deliver Funding & Project Management training in my spare time.

Yes - I am one of those who goes on about what I'm doing lol Partly because I reckon it's a most excellent idea for anyone looking to skip the country lol I'd love for people to go 'hell yes, I'm up for that, show me where to sign!'

Reasons I volunteer 24/7 - actually, mostly they begin with 'I' and are rather selfish reasons:

* I've always been a rather independent bod and I get a lot of autonomy as a volunteer that I wouldn't as an employee.

* I love to pass on skills, I get huge job satisfaction from it.

* I need to be challenged. I can't stay in one place unless I feel I'm actually doing something.

* The world is a very big place with many people in it - I want to see as much of it and meet as many of them as I can before I snuff it.

* I like extremes. I like to see things that make me question. Volunteering keeps me in a constant state of surprise - from the Red Cross where we had numerous people with mental health issues coming in to here where you find yourself dishing out toilet roll to people in deep trauma. I like being close to the action and away from the mundane.

* I like to have a story to tell. I would love to inspire others to do it - to go have that adventure.

* It beats watching X-factor *shrug*



Nah, never true. There's always a personal gain in volunteering. Whether it's curiosity satisfied, human contact craved, pleasure in a job well done - there's always something comes out of it that makes it worthwhile. A Fire-fighter? Saving a person’s life isn't altruistic, there's a need in us that has to be scratched to go do something like that.

It's mythological bollox that volunteers are saints. It also perpetuates the volunteer crisis - Saints are pretty shining people in the clouds who need no thanks or incentive. Volunteers are human - they need a purpose to what they do. Thankless, uninspired and pointless volunteer roles leads to people walking away - it's something most NGOs haven't got anywhere near right yet.

Volunteers are the most amazing people - they can change worlds because they care about what they're doing, which is more than you can say for 80% of nine-to-fivers. Passion gets things done. But fire needs fuel.

Blah, that's me anyway. I also know volunteering will get me a good step-up on the CV train, but even if I had a high-flying job I'd still be doing something on the side - money is only ever good if you have something worthwhile to spend it on. There's an ideologist in all of us somewhere

I think that people often use the "oh well, I could never do that" as an excuse. They neither think anything of the person who does volunteer nor do they ever think about what they could do themselves. I have found that people tend to volunteer more readily if there is a "community" of volunteers to socialise with rather than just one or two very dedicated people. The other side of the coin is the territorial aspect of some volunteers, I open the Bridge Chapel to visitors at weekends but I dare not flick a duster around the place or Mrs Overall would go absolutely spare - I certainly would not do it right anyway.

A funny thing happened a couple of weeks ago that sprang from my volunteering. I have been helping out at the local primary school, since they lost their maths specialist I have been helping the teachers with worksheets and combining maths and IT lessons. I have also been tutoring some of the children that need a boost to get them into secondary school. The parents of one of my tutees came round one night and said that they had heard from one of the teachers that I was a Pagan and could I tell them something more about it. We chatted well into the night with a few drinks and they left with a reading list and a bit more confidence. They had been under the impression that paganism was all about power and self-gratification (given by the various glossy US television series no doubt) and they didn't think that a Pagan would volunteer for anything (I set them right on that score). They are still reading all about it and I seem to have gained the nickname "Lord Summerisle" in the local .

I did some volunteer work in Africa a few years ago and am thinking about joining the lifeboat crew here, but I'd never do something like coach a kids' sports team or work with disabled folk or anything, that'd bore me daft and is too much legal hassle these days.
I'd like to volunteer for conservation work abroad but can't afford it now that I've got a flat and bills to pay.

Reading this thread I have realised that over the years I have volenteered all over the place... and still do.

I think it started with the Guiding Movement - which I still have contacts with. And then there was the YMCA daycamps stuff - giving activity holidays to children who other wise would have no holiday at all (for example, kids who cared for relitives or were in some way under privalidged and without the money for any kind of break). One reason I got my archery coaching qualification was so that I could pass on my love of archery to others - and most of that has been utterly free teaching (and any money I have made has been reinvested in equipment to allow me to teach more!). Then there is all the first aid stuff I have done, best of that was working various festivals... I spent a year or more working as a volenteer at a wildlife hospital... everything from the basics of cleaning cages and floors, to the delicate art of hand rearing baby birds to the hard slog of working the outdoor pens in winter. I have even done voleenteer work for a museum - helping to preserve and collate their collections. Currently I am a volenteer on a committee helping to run a re-enactment socity, at times it is great fun, while at others it is the most stressful voleenteer job I have done.

My voleenteering of late has been somewhat reduced - indeed I am very greatful for a couple of voleenteers who are currently helping me! (Homestart is amazing!) But I have every intention (when health and family life permit) to make a full return.

I have volenteered for many reasons, to give back to the comunity / society, to scratch an itch, to increase my understanding or knowledge, for fun and enjoyment and social contact, for the looks on peoples faces when they achive, for the delight of wild things being wild again, as a way of worship of / praise to / penance to various Gods, as a gateway to formal work (the whole looks good on my CV) and back again - to feed back and share a love I have, to other people...

My Gentleman has also been involved with voleenteer stuff including mountain rescue, which he assures me he got involved with as a way of Thanking the mountains for all the fun he had had climbing and as a way of increasing his knowledge and skills.

This country relies hevealy on its vast collection of voleenteer and charity workers. I think it is a resource that is frequently over looked, under respected and appriciated... both by the comunities that are served, all the way up to the eshalons of govenment.
I also think that it is a secret army of amazing people doing ordenery things... or is that ordenaery people doing amazing things... and something to be quietly proud of.

Be bright,bebold
Fillionous

Thankyou for saying that fillionous. It is so true.

I volunteer for the Wildlife trusts, junior branch by running a wildlife group for children. Its brilliant when you see a young one professed to be scared of worms or spiders then be playing with them ten mins later.

I did some voluntary work in the past and I didn't enjoy it because the manager and the main assistant stood in the front of the shop and as well as sorting out customers they chatted quite a bit (mainly) while I was sent into the back and worked non stop steaming stuff. That put me off withing with them ever again but the other shop I was with were brilliant.

They made so much effort to help me out, get me experience. In todays world charity work is fantastic for getting experience. When I was looking every job only wanted people with experience, even trainees. So it was virtually impossible to get one without the experience but because you couldn't get a job you had no way of getting the experience. Unless you went for a MacJob

I volunteered at a museum, it was an all volunteer run place and I loved it till the secretary changed. The incoming secretary rushed around making himself well known and friendly to all the visitors and the people in the classes we had. Then started handing out projects to all and sundry, didn't bother to ask who was working on them already just started giving them out! 5 projects I had worked on for months and put my heart and soul into were given to someone else, I was told I could like it or lump it, so after 4 months of non - stop stress I left.
I volunteer at the Botanical Gardens, in the interpretation department and I also help out with fundraising research. I really enjoy it there and love walking round the gardens. You have to wear your volunteers badge so visitors feel comfortable in coming up to you and asking questions. At the moment I'm doing a project based around training volunteers as garden guides to do guided walks around the gardens and tell people about the Gardens history and the plants we have in the collection.
We also have a wonderful reference library which is open two days a week and staffed by volunteers.

I,ve volunteered quite a bit over the years not sure what drives me its something I want to do and get an immense feeling of satisfaction from, but I don,t think its in a "look at me I volunteer " kind of way as many don,t know I do or have done it I started off working in charity shops my 1st one was a local Cancer Research one, I suppose my thinking there was because my mum had died from cancer and I wanted to help in some small way.I used to do 4 hrs on a Saturday afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed it, I used to look forward to going there and I met such interesting and fantastic people, I think I stayed for about 18mths and only gave up when we moved.
From there I worked in a Help the Aged charity shop and it was there that I found out about becoming a driver for the Salvation Army so I volunteered my driving services and for 3 consequetive years on xmas day I picked up a few old dears and gents and took them to a local Salvation army centre for xmas lunch and entertainment.I would drop them off earliesh and then come back about tea time to pick them up.It just meant I couldn,t have a drink during the day but that was no hardship. Then from doing that I found out about the charity Contact the Elderly and became a volunteer driver for them.Once a month on a Sunday you would have about 2 or 3 local Octogenariens that you would pick up and take to a hosts house for tea and a bit of company and you would stay with them and chat.I loved doing that, did that for about 18 mths but our local group disbanded.I would thoroughly recommend this to anyone who can drive and might be able to give up a couple of hours on a Sunday once a month to take some elderly people out.You obviously need quite a spacious car, a mini would be no good From there I did a similar thing at xmas for our local Help the Aged group but this time before xmas but still an xmas luncheon and I also give blood and volunteer at my son,s school as I do the fruit in the mornings(sort, wash and give out) I,ve been doing that for coming up to 2 years now. I think the thinking behind that was that I was so grateful to get him into the school i felt he needed at the time that when I was approached I was more than happy to help.I,ve also volunteered as a parent helper at my daughters infant school in the past as a someone who hears readers and helps out with baking sessions and accompanies the class on trips to the library etc.
And when I can I try to help out with any local community projects especially the cleaning up kind.

MM08 x