If you volunteer, what do you do?

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

I’ve had a hankering to do something worthwhile lately so I’m wondering about volunteering. I’m particularly interested in any environmental/eco-friendly/climate changey type things. Also would be great if there was something ad hoc or maybe like a monthly beach clean up or something maybe? Something the kids can come along to as well? Tell me about any good opportunities/movements you know about please!

Also just want to hear about whatever you do, environmental or non-, as I’ve definitely not considered everything!

I’m a parish councillor for my village that might be worth looking into as we’d love someone who was up on environmental issues to participate.
Also I’m a sexual health promotion volunteer for a lgb and t charity. Help out at my dd’s Rainbows group and I’m on the school pta.
All sounds a lot but on average 2 hours per week maybe if that.
Used to volunteer with young offenders which was challenging but very interesting.

I volunteer for my local citizens advice every week.
I also do some ad hoc volunteering with the housing association I rent from - helping run skill sharing sessions.

I’m a church warden

Trustee of a startup education charity and volunteer tutor a craft group for vulnerable groups.

I used to volunteer for the local soup kitchen and I've now signed up to be an independent visitor for children in care. I haven't checked them out but there's a group where I live called "rubbish friends" who do litter picking if that's your kind of thing. I just love the name!

I volunteer in the village library one morning per week (9-1). We do a lot of what the paid librarians do, so checking items in & out, customer service etc

I cuddle cats and kittens at my local cat sanctuary 😸😻 (cat socialiser!)

I work for a soup kitchen but I help people with welfare firms

Forms

I volunteer for a local children’s charity. I’ve been paired up with a little girl and I see her every few weeks. I absolutely love it, and it’s something I hope I can always do. I’ve now been paired with her for 2 years.
I used to volunteer with the local brownies unit, but once I had my LO found it took up a lot of time, so decided to give it up.

I go into one of the eating disorder units I was a patient on. I give talks on recovery, but mostly just spend time with the girls who are far from home and don't get many visitors. I own a fitness company now, so i also lead low inpact exercise classes, helping people to build muscle (extreme starvation eats away at muscle, i spent months in a wheelchair as a result - while exercise sounds counter-intuitive in the circumstances, it's actually quite important to help gain some muscle/strength back)

I'm a school governor (not my child's school) and I talk to school kids about career choices via Inspiring The Future. I also edit personal statements for students from under privileged and ESL backgrounds applying to university

Volunteer bereavement councillor . For the family of recently deceased but also for the actual person who is coming to terms of their own life limited disease.

Village committee fundraising money through events to bring the community together and make the village look nice, things like flowers in baskets, Christmas tree and the annual village fete. We also have an unused church, were in the process of documenting the graves, clearing the graveyard of brambles to reinstate it as a wildflower garden and hopefully open the church up as an exhibition space.
The next plan is to clear the orchard and add some picnic benches as despite living in a rural village we dont have any community space.

My DS washes up in a charity cafe once a week.

I volunteer with Girl Guiding.

I'm a treasurer for a children's community group.

If you're interested in something for the environment there is a group near me that organise monthly litter picks around the local area. They also do litter picking with the brownies and cubs. It makes a huge difference and hardly takes up any time. They've set up a Facebook page where they organise and recruit for litter picking events.

I'm a trustee for our local AgeUK, I'm also vice Chair for my son's swimming club, and I'm the Enterprise Advisor for a local state school.

I also work full time and have two DS.

I find giving back very fulfilling.

I'm a trustee for an advice charity. I am quite detailed so have found moving to consider strategy decisions quite difficult but I keep working at it! It takes 1-2 days per month spread over the month. I have always done lots of volunteering - eg National Trust, local school but got really fed up with volunteer organisers being disorganised and my time not being valued, so I have cut back on that.

Re the environment the RSPB organised a plastic pick up in Kent earlier this year at Cliffe Marshes nature reserve. Perhaps your local RSPB might be doing similar?

I’m currently an online archive volunteer with Historic England (I look for photographs of listed buildings and check their listing status etc), I do volunteer for my local literature festival every year though and have done for the past 5 years, I also do minutes and leaflets for a local mental health group and have done a lot of museum volunteering in the past (14 years worth in total and yet I still can’t get a job in the museum sector)
I actually love volunteering and find it so worthwhile, my school was very big on it so I started from there.

Lifeboat Crew

If you're in London, you might like this:

www.thames21.org.uk

And if you want to improve your own body as well your community, try

www.goodgym.org/about

Pta, Assistant Beaver leader and I used to volunteer at my ‘local’ zoo in the activity centre Face painting. I also volunteered as a teenager as a respite support worker with kids with special needs.

I volunteer with girl guiding and am a school governor.

I volunteer at a Local History Cafe once a month, involves tea and cake, a talk and something practical relating to the talk. Usually I help serve tea and cake to the participants, join in with the practical activities and encouraging participation. I have also given a talk.

I have recently started a 'Chat N Natter' table in our local community cafe. This is part of the Chatty Cafe Scheme and is intended to encourage anyone who wants a chat to do so. I usually have a resource of some sort to generate interest. Last week it was my gran's button box and a darning mushroom.

I also do activity sessions with others from our local community museum for people with dementia - care groups, hospital wards, dementia cafes etc. These often as and when asked for and are usually around 'The Sixties'