Do you volunteer? If so, what and why?

[GlowFlo]

Just being nosy really and looking to volunteer a bit more!
Would love to be inspired by Mumsnetters.

ive not long joined up to volunteer, basically i love the cause, its a great cause and through volunteering it helps my skills and abilities improve.

I volunteer behind the bar at our community theatre. It's about 1 afternoon/evening a month.

I used to volunteer as a gardener at our local stately home that the council had taken over and basically driven into the ground. There was a team of us who dedicated a day a month to the grounds.

When I was a university student I volunteered at Riding for the Disabled.

yes, at a heritage site. Because I love local history and old buildings.

I volunteer as a charity fundraiser for different charities roughly one Friday a month

Oh! I also taught English to new migrants - once a week, 2 hours in the evening. I did that for about 5 years.

Why? Well, the theatre thing is to help out a friend, The other stuff was because I believed in the cause and/or doing something useful.

I volunteer doing sport coaching with children who have disabilities and so are often excluded from sports groups, I also do some volunteering at our local homeless shelter.

I’m a Sikh, so volunteering is a way of life, I’ve been doing it since I was 16.

@GlowFlo what's your interests? Your passion? Something you really care about?
There's a 1001 ways you could volunteer but you should have a reason to be doing it.
I have in the past volunteered at a primary school PTA and helped with reading at the school etc - because I feel education is important and the PTA could raise a lot of money/put on events to help the school.
I am looking into starting up a PTA at the school my daughter is currently at.

I am on the board of governors at a local primary school.

I do it because I admire the ethos of the school and want to contribute to my community

I volunteer collecting donated food for distribution the following day to families in need. I am lucky, I earn enough money to pay all my bills and enjoy holidays etc and I have to do something to help others who are not in this position.

It is only two hours a week and makes a significant difference to many people.

I'm a trustee (basically a volunteer non-exec director) for two charities. I don't think I'd be great at beneficiary facing stuff tbh so this is a way to be involved and use my skills but be a bit more behind the scenes.

Previously I've volunteered as one offs - marshalling at sport events, by organising events, and as an assistant at ds's sports club.
At the moment I'm trying not to do regular volunteering, but have just been a volunteer at the Olympics which was amazing

I do, as it's just part of my dna. I always have.
It is mostly enjoyable, and I have made so many friends over the years through doing so.

However, as has been said, there are SO many different ways to volunteer.

What do you enjoy doing ?

Yes, I help run the church toddler group about once every 6 weeks. I do it because I’m a Christian and I want to be able to show a tiny incy bit of what faith can do. Also because I met a wonderful group of friends at the toddler group that 10 years later regularly get together and I want to facilitate that for others. It also keeps the church going as a community centre in our village. I’m also on the pcc.

I volunteer as a driver for a charity who organises afternoon tea for older people. Other people volunteer as hosts and I pick them up and then take them
Home.

I absolutely love doing it. Makes the old ladies so happy to get out and meet others.

I’m on the committee for a local pre-school, which is run as a charity so needs committee members to operate. My DD went to the pre-school, which is how I found out they needed committee members.

I do it partly to ‘pay back’ the previous committee members who allowed the pre-school to be open when my DD was there, partly to give to our community as it’s well-used and clearly needed, and partly because I wanted to do more than just work and home life.

I volunteer as a school governor at my children's secondary school. I also volunteer for a couple of local charities and am a trustee for a couple of other charities. I was fortunate to be able to stop working full time when I had children and find it is a good way to put my (wasted, according to some people!) university education and PhD soft skills to good use. It also enables me to meet new people, learn new skills and feel like I am giving back to society rather than "sitting around doing nothing" or being a "lady who lunches" now my children are older, to quote many people over the years!

I was fortunate to receive a good education and DH and I both feel that we are blessed to be able to afford for me not to work full time. So many people can't, and actually there are many voluntary sector roles that need a good level of education or experience like being a trustee or sitting at board level such as school governors. Unfortunately with so many people needing to go back to work after having children or working later and not retiring early, these roles are hard to fill.

I'm a scout leader. I do it to ensure my kids get amazing experiences and I get to have fun and have made loads of brilliant friends.

I volunteer on 2 charity boards because it's very good for my career and I'm doing something good.

I volunteer as a cub leader - I absolutely love it. As the main leader, it is quite full on and time consuming, but there are roles within the group that take up much less time.

I've often thought that I'd like to volunteer at our local theatre, and will hopefully do this once I scale back my job as some point in the future.

I volunteer at my kids school in a couple of capacities.
I volunteer with Home Start. I found motherhood exceedingly difficult at the beginning due to my childhood/postnatal mental health conditions and I really benefited from support so I'm paying it forward.
I help at Beavers and sometimes Rainbows because I think our local sections do a lot of good for the children who attend.
I chair a Board of Trustees for a local charity and write their funding applications.

I got roped into the preschool committee, but actually quite enjoy it. It's mostly helping to run the Christmas fayre and supporting the managers with decisions about staffing and other issues. We do some fundraising too.

I volunteer as the Chair of the local secondary Parent Council. I think this is most like being a Governor of a School Board.

I also volunteer as a Trustee of a local youth group.

I sit on a local council organisation that is involved in participatory budgeting, specifically with a view to improve Governance

I am a volunteer Bikeability instructor (haven't done that for a while)

The local Deputy Lord Provost often volunteers me to local groups to share my particular area of expertise

I also work!

I foster dogs and have done for about 14 years. I’ve helped over 100 on their way to a new home and hope to continue for many more years 🙂

I had to give it up when pregnant during the pandemic but I used to drive a van for the Felix Project around central London, picking up leftover food at Pret/Tesco/etc at 5ish and then redistributing it to community centres in time for their evening youth stuff or homeless shelters.

I originally got into it as I had a friend who used to do it was unwell and I wanted to do something to help so thought it was the least I could do to take his place, but I really enjoyed it - I felt like I was doing something really tangibly good, and I could see the benefits unlike donations etc.

I’d love to get back into it but my evenings are not my own with two under 5 atm and I’m stretched to fit everything in with my own life. Definitely will start volunteering again when I have even just a bit of ‘spare’ time.

I really think volunteering is good for the soul (although it pissed me off that I was essentially propping up what I thought was something the state should be coordinating) and I’ve noticed a real difference in retirees who volunteer versus those who don’t.

Oh I forgot to say why. I do it all to give back to my local community, because I believe in the concept of servant leadership and also because I think if I'm going to moan about something - I should try and do something positive to help.

As a mountain bike leader for a kids group. Started because my daughter was too nervous to go alone, but now she’s been there for 3yrs and moved up out of my group. I still lead. It’s lovely ☺️

I volunteer occasionally for a local wildlife trust too