What volunteering do you do?

[Katisha]

People on here often advise volunteering in a general way - so specifically what sort of thing do you do, if you volunteer, did you need particular skills already, and is it rewarding? I'm looking for inspiration as I might stop work in the next year or so.

I'm a trustee for 2 charities, one is a national one but I am on the board of trustees for our local branch. The other charity is a local cancer one.

I volunteer for Samaritans for Festival team so all face to face but limited season. Did that for over a decade but A
After kids I'm in a support not listening role due to time which means (and yes I'm using a name where I'm ok being outted) I do some background support work over the season and I help significantly as part of the training weekends we hold four times a year. So it's very bitty and mostly flexible apart from the weekends which are exhausting but fun.

I also volunteer with Beavers where DS started. He's in cubs so I sometimes help there but rarely. Beavers means leading sessions sometimes so session planning and delivery, attending camps a few times a year and the odd weekend trip as well as the general weekly sessions with the kids

Oh as for rewarding, Sam's when I was doing face to face, very much. Now doing support, yes but cos I love the people I help support. Beavers, largely 😂.

Training provided by Sam's before I could volunteer, Beavers more on the job
DBS for both, obv .

Me too, pretty much word for word! Kitten season has already started here, which is very early.

Collecting food from the supermarkets for the food banks in the car (3-4hrs just driving around involved!) and then delivering/unpacking.
Good to stop food going into landfill and instead to someone who needs it.

I'm a school governor too, I don't hold any other formal volunteering roles and won't while I continue as a governor and work, but I do ad-hoc volunteering in the community when I see a shout-out on FB for help. Mostly this is outdoor work on local nature reserves and green sites, but I also acted as an Elf for the Lions Club Santa going round the houses this year.

Prior to becoming a governor I was on the exec committee for the local Scout group for many years and acted as an ad-hoc parent helper on occasion. I was also a committee member of a local sports club responsible for all the governance and certification to the sport governing body. I was also on the PTA of one or other school for most of my DCs time in school and before that on the local NCT committee.

I'm a family support volunteer for Home Start and part of the fundraising committee. So very rewarding, I love it. Requires 2 hours a week and full training given.
I also used to be an Independent Visitor to a young person in care but I don't now due to her getting older and not using the device anymore. Also very rewarding x

I do voluntary work for Cinnamon Trust
Set up for people who due to ill health / frailty need a helping hand with their companion animals.
Dog walking, cat care, small animal care, vet visits etc
Fabulous charity ❤️

In previous years I've done STEM ambassador work, tree planting and hedgelaying, reading in school, playgroup committee and prescription pickups. Odds and ends, but it kind of adds up

You were obviously at a shit Branch. The volunteers at our branch are great, as are most Samaritans volunteers. They do their best for the callers and they definitely don’t eat on the phone. Ongoing training is mandatory. Each year you have to do ongoing mentoring, there are training sessions you have to attend and there is frequently online modules you have to complete. There’s a good reason why volunteers stay with the Samaritans for years, and it’s not because we’re all a bunch of heartless bastards who get our kicks out of laughing at peoples’ distress. I’d thank you not to badmouth an entire organization and volunteers who do a lot of good work, and difficult work, just because you personally had a bad experience. Are you trying to put people who might need us off calling? Think about what you post before you post it FFS.

I’m a Samaritan, obviously, and I’m on the committee of an organization that runs music workshops to aid well-being and social inclusion.

Park run/Junior park run. It's around an hour a week, unless you are the event/run director and can be done ad hoc.

I volunteer with a charity that supports NHS hearing aid users with simple technical support in monthly community clinics.

DH volunteers with the local food bank.

I've done all sorts
When DC were little I was a volunteer helper in the village primary school. Later a governor at secondary school.
I sat on an education appeals tribunal for many years.
Library home visits to housebound borrowers.

Volunteering is seldom as rewarding as you might hope.

In the past I've been a Special Constable and have been secretary and treasurer (at different times) of the local group of the Institute of Advanced Motorists.

I've also helped in the local RNLI shop in the past, and helped organise model railway exhibitions, hobby and craft fairs, and done electrical sound/lighting work for amateur dramatics in a local theatre.

Currently, I'm on village groups/committees for running the local library which we took over when the council closed it, the local community centre, and part of a preservation group restoring a closed down theatre.

I also go out group litter picking around our village and surrounding villages and help maintain a local railway station (cleaning, tidying, planting flower containers etc).

Sounds a lot, but most of it is pretty irregular so easily doable around work. Rarely have more than one thing to do in any week, so it's typically one evening and one half day at a weekend.

All very rewarding to be doing something useful and giving the opportunity to meet new people etc.

The only "voluntary" activity that I hated and didn't last long was being a school governor at our local primary school. It was all smoke and mirrors - the head and the local authority representatives ran it as their personal pfieffdom and had no interest in "outsiders" being involved so they constantly manipulated the proceedings at governor's meetings to get their own way, ran roughshod over perfectly legitimate idea/concerns etc from the other governors. Worst was one evening they had a "sham" consultation about "options" for a particular area of the school operation - we spent two hours discussing the relative merits, pros and cons of the two options they had put forward. At the end of the evening, we had a vote, and there was a majority in favour of, say, Option B - only for the Head and LA rep to then say that Option B wasn't actually allowable and the only option was A so "instructed" us to vote A instead. That was a complete fiasco and waste of an evening. I resigned that night, as did 2 other governors. Looking at the school website ever since, it's a revolving door of new governors, none who seem to last longer than 2 or 3 meetings. So much for democracy and openness! Like I say, all smoke and mirrors!

Inspiring thread. I’ve applied for a couple of volunteer positions online. They don’t make it easy though!

@ChihuahuasREvil
my experience as a Sam is obviously very different to yours.
many of the volunteers had been there for years and are boastful about never doing training.

they truly didn’t care.
I complained to “head office” but was told it has to be dealt with by branch.

very hard to complain about the actions of people when the director is one of them.

they would gossip and giggle about everything. It’s very cliquey and high school behaviour led.

when I started, I was so positive and loved listening to the callers and hoped I was helping in some way.

the “older” volunteers of 20+ years are just so jaded and mean.

j will never recommend Samaritans for volunteering or even calling.

sad but true.

I can’t think of a time in my adult life that I haven’t regularly volunteered in some capacity, and I’m 48. Ranging from student welfare support, pro bono legal advice, domestic abuse support, Sen support, PTA and now I volunteer with a local charity that provides practical help to alleviate the impact of poverty on families in the locality. I’ve met fantastic people as a result.

I'm on the committee of a gardening club, and volunteer at another, to help organise events and so on. I've been Chair of another voluntary group in the past, and know how onerous it can be.

Have volunteered with my dog at hospital and care home, he’s not a qualified therapy dog but he lifted spirits of the patients. I was asked to attend by hospital consultant and nursing home when my aunt was ill (we didn’t just turn up!)

Volunteer at a dog rescue centre, I don’t have much free time but can generate money for them via DH’s business, which is probably why I’m still allowed to walk the dogs occasionally. Plus I will rehome a dog at some point.

I did become a part time self employed dog walker for a very short period! not for the money I might add I just love dogs and walking.

I’m a Good Neighbour - I visit a house bound person in my community once a week. We sit and have a gossip for an hour over a cup of tea.

When Im retired Im planning on volunteering at the local library which is run entirely by volunteers and I will probably join the organising team for our annual May day festival

I volunteer for the Samaritans

School governor
Do three hours a week in the clubhouse at my DDs sports club.

Charity trustee, scout leader, school governor

Useful thread as I'd like to start doing some volunteering. But not working in a charity shop!

When Dd was in primary school I volunteered listening to children read
I volunteer at a local homeless charity once a week I really enjoy it only been doing it since September