Christmas Day volunteering

[RalphLaurenG]

I've never done any sort of volunteering before and I can't seem to find the right sort of website to sign up for something. They either need you to sign up or they're just offering overseas opportunities.

Can anyone recommend a good website please?

I think a lot of organisations will have already got their volunteers sorted by now. Try local churches or your town council may know what's going on.

I would imagine they get a huge influx of people and sort that all out early on.

Charities need volunteers who can commit to more than just one day, especially considering the vetting and training requirements. If you would like to do volunteering, there would most likely be many options near you for regular volunteering, for example in food banks, homeless projects, or schools.

A post on a local FB page might yield results quickest ?

www.crisis.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer/volunteer-for-crisis-at-christmas/

doit.life/about

While I'm sure your heart is very much in the right place, charities tend to be inundated with people wanting to volunteer over Christmas for the feel good factor. If you really want to volunteer, there are many organisations that would absolutely love your support throughout the rest of the year. As suggested, have a look on fb, or Google local charities and email them. The county I live in has a 'volunteer group', so organisations go to them with their needs, and those of us signed up get a weekly text with a list of the volunteers that they need (and sometimes random texts when there's a particular urgent need for support). It can be anything from visiting elderly people, to delivering donated supplies to the animal rescue, or helping out with community events. There might be something similar local to you? Or if not you could always get in touch with local charities and maybe try setting up something like this?

Look up local soup kitchens, contact churches, that will be the best option.

I have done crisis for Xmas about 20 years ago. It was over a few days. I'd really recommend it

Bit harsh to say it’s for the ‘feel good factor.’ Volunteering is often suggested for the benefit of the volunteer as well as the recipient.

Crisis at Christmas, I’d suggest. Most organisations operate year round or even shut down over xmas, so not a good time for just a few days of volunteering.

They either need you to sign up

Of course they do. They need to be sure that you will show up, and that you are fit for the roles on offer

And yes, look also for year-round roles. You can make a huge difference

@Cornhill

Bit harsh to say it’s for the ‘feel good factor.’ Volunteering is often suggested for the benefit of the volunteer as well as the recipient.

I'm sorry my post came across that way. To be clear, which I thought I was in my previous post, but evidently not (and that's on me, I can be a bit waffley sometimes 🤣), I'm not at all suggesting that that was the OP's motivation. And I'm not for a moment suggesting that doing voluntary work isn't beneficial to both the volunteer and the people they are helping. It's certainly been hugely beneficial to me. However, it is true that some people look to volunteer at Christmas purely to feel good about themselves, when they would never bother for the other 364 days of the year. It's definitely something that the organisations I volunteer with come up against every year. Hence them being overwhelmed with offers to volunteer for that one specific day, when they could really do with people's support throughout the rest of the year

I get what Butterflies is saying, we have a similar situation with donations to our local Food Bank ... everyone wants to do their bit at Christmas and we are overwhelmed with donations many unsuitable (24 Advent Calendars for rough sleepers ?). We end up having to pay for storage ... come the end of February, dark, dreary weather and we are forgotten about .

Ah, ok. I'm totally new to this. And we normally have big family Christmases, but not this year, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to volunteer if I could.

I will definitely look into year round roles.

I can assure you it's not for the feel good factor, it's a genuine wish to make someone's Christmas better, who can't/would find it very difficult to do themselves.

Thanks everyone!

Thank you, @Ragwort, you've said what I tried to much more succinctly.

@RalphLaurenG, please don't be put off from volunteering, it's a great thing to do. Just maybe think about doing it at other times of the year

I’ve done crisis at Christmas many times, I’m not sure what the deal is now with Covid but it’s worth checking out the website and signing up if you can- they always need lots of volunteers and will be happy to have you.

I can totally relate to the usually having a big family Christmas and feeling a bit lost without it.

www.ncvo.org.uk/ncvo-volunteering/I-want-to-volunteer this might be a good starting point for you?

Local parkruns are looking for volunteers on Xmas day and NYD as they both fall on a Saturday. It’s a great way to make new friends and you can do all year round if you want to

@Cornhill

Bit harsh to say it’s for the ‘feel good factor.’ Volunteering is often suggested for the benefit of the volunteer as well as the recipient.

Well it's not harsh actually. Volunteers are needed all year round not just on the one day someone wants to offer.

I do understand what you’re saying, @ButterfliesAndDaffodils, but for me, it’s partly a push on charitable donations at this time of year - we have people in Morrisons asking if you’d mind popping a few bits in and of course you say yes. It doesn’t mean you don’t care, just that it may not be in the forefront of your mind.

My parents died when I was very young so I am something of an old hand at spending Christmas alone and I’ve been told I should volunteer more times than I’ve had hot dinners. I don’t volunteer the rest of the year purely because I work full time - if you have two weeks off at Christmas, as many people do, and you’re on your own, it’s not hard to see why volunteering springs to peoples minds.

I’m not starting an argument I promise, just presenting things from the other side if you like.

Of course they are @Mantlemoose but not everyone has the time all year round.

Mantlemoose - I totally get what you're saying and it must be frustrating to have people piling in on popular dates and being left with skeleton groups on other ones.

No, I get that you're not starting an argument, @cornhill. And I absolutely get your point. And I like that we can have a conversation without it becoming a slanging match. PARD, I think? And I'm so sorry that you lost your parents so young. My Dad had the same, and I remember saying to him 'oh I don't really know anything about your parents, can we talk about them' and his reply was 'mam died when I was 15, I didn't even know her' it's awful.

I think we can all agree that volunteering is a wonderful thing to do.

An alternative to volunteering is there are organisations who set foreign students up with uk families for weekend breaks and Christmas etc if you fancy hosting some students who dont/cant get back to their family for christmas?

Might not be quite right for you but thought it might be worth mentioning it