come and talk to me about your charity work

[Cinammoncake]

I fancy doing some volunteering but don't know where to start. In terms of time commitment probably one day or one evening per week, or something less regular. I'd rather not work in a charity shop. Any ideas? Would be interesting to hear what other people do. Thanks

I listen to children read at the local primary school.Started when youngest was a pupil there and carried on after he left - 11 years ago!

DH works for a charity so I volunteer at fundraising events and open days for them. I can be doing anything - prepping a buffet, serving champagne, selling merchandise to name a few.

DH also has a number of other voluntary roles. He runs a walking group, organises footpath work parties within our area, is a parish councillor and also a volunteer canal boat skipper for a charity who operate narrowboats for people with disabilities (which is not the charity he works for).

Your local hospital will have varied volunteer roles, and probably also a ‘League of Friends’.
British Red Cross have lots of very varied volunteer roles (first aid, training and educating, mobility aid hire, befriending, post hospital discharge support, work with refugees, family tracing, emergency support (post house fires/flooding etc) -and are very good at training and supporting their volunteers.
Museums and libraries also have varied volunteer roles(at least they do where I live so imagine they do elsewhere 😁)

I volunteer with AgeUK. I visit elderly people who are housebound and spend some time having a chat with them. Mostly the only people they see all day are carers who give them a quick visit twice a day.
It's such an easy thing to do and so rewarding.

Breast feeding peer supporter through children's centre and citizens advice advisor (training currently).

cinnamon I may be out of date but the Guardian is the go to place for non profit jobs ( wednesdays?) and they sometimes have trustee positions advertised.

I do hand and foot massages for people on kidney dialysis machines at our local hospital. It's a long day for them - they go three times a week for about 6 hours, plus waiting for transport to and from. So for someone to come around and offer a hand / foot massage and some light chat, it breaks up the day for them.

I have several voluntary roles within youth sport. I coach one sport and am secretary of a club for a different one. I am also on the committee of a county wide umbrella organisation with a role focused on increasing youth participation in sport.
Lots of youth organisations need helpers, whether it is sports clubs, the uniformed organisations, youth clubs etc. I got into it all because of guilt to be perfectly honest. The first role I had was in a club that 2 of my children belonged to at the time and they were desperate for help. My children were getting a lot out of it and I didn't feel that it was fair to take and not give anything back. I didn't really expect to enjoy it and certainly had no plans to continue once my own children outgrew the club, but I was wrong on both counts!
I know it doesn't sound as worthy as a lot of the things other people are doing but involvement in sport can have a very positive impact on young people. We have children from a wide range of backgrounds and quite a number with additional needs and I love seeing how barriers get broken down and confidence grows. Neither of my clubs is terribly successful if you measure that on tournament results but without fail we get compliments on our behaviour, team work and sportsmanship, all of which makes me very proud. Working with kids can be hard work, but I do find it really rewarding.

I volunteer in a prison. Take a look at the Independent Monitoring Board website.

Just checking back in to say thanks again for all the contributions on here, you lot are brilliant

I'm looking into a number of the suggestions and options and am so glad I started the thread.

I recently volunteered in the education section in my local museum, running sessions for local primary school children. I have also been involved in my local village hall, running community social events.

Go to your local volunteer bureau; there will be so many areas you haven't even thought of!

I volunteer for a small, local charity. Helping sorting through donations. I also help to sell more valuable / interesting and collector items on eBay.

Years ago I volunteered at hospital radio for a couple of years which was great fun; I've also volunteered as a "cat cuddler" with the local animal rescue shelter. (Though the very posh lady who's there now prefers to call it "spending time with the cats". They do also often need people to walk the dogs.)

I've also done some volunteering connected to my profession (library-related) and I recently signed up to do some indexing of old genealogical records online. I got assigned lots of crime records from the late 19th/very early 20th century - really fascinating. Dunno what it says about me though!!