Do you volunteer?

[Kelvinator1]

Just that really. I am happily childfree, in a fairly mundane job (actively looking for something else but that's another thread) and a call was put out recently for volunteers at a local charity - something that interests me a fair bit. Anyway, I did the whole application/induction thing, but now I have the fear about actually going in for my first shift. I don't know why. The work is very different to anything I've done before, so that could be it - but at the application stage I thought that it would be good to stretch myself and learn some new things! I think being childfree I feel pressure to be doing 'something' with 'all this time I apparently have' . Plus, I do like the idea of giving my time to a good cause, but I just can't seem to get over this reluctance to actually go. Then I try and think of some real life examples, and I can't think of anyone I know that volunteers - both my nan's did in a charity shop many decades ago, but that's it!

So - can anyone give me some good volunteer stories?? What do you do/do you love it/met great people through it, etc etc?

I took early retirement. I volunteer at a hospital. At first I helped on a ward but, apart from the matron, cleaners and the health care assistants, I was treated like a nuisance and felt like I was in the way. I was often told to go into single rooms to feed people (which volunteers were not allowed to do) so I asked to change roles and now I help with admin in an office.
My friend volunteered in the library of a hospice and quite enjoyed that.
My advice would be, do it if you feel that you want to, but only do as much as you want to and don't be pushed around. If you don't like it you can leave whenever you like.

I’m retired but don’t volunteer. Sometimes I feel a bit guilty but meh, it’s my life.

If you feel you have something to offer a good cause and you'll get some pleasure from it then go for it. I do wonder if you've only signed up to get your judgy workmates off your back, they could have had loads of free time but they choose to have DC, neither choice is more valid so don't let them bully you Op.
I do community gardening, I love it and the locals get a lovely view, something for both sides

I'm retired and have done some volunteering for children aged 0 to 5. SO far I've visited 3 different little families you do about 6
2 hour sessions with each family. . It's been ok but they seem to allocate me further away from where I would accept work - I was a teaher and still still do odd supply work days . So I just thought to myself I'm doing this as a social thing - yes for my own benefit in that way - and spending half the time on my own in a car. So I think I'll try a different charity ! I think the Charity work has to benefit you in some way as well or you won't continue.

I'm just going through the process of being assigned an underprivileged young Londoner to mentor.

I work 18 hours a week so recently have started being a telephone friend to a lady set up through Age Concern. I love a phone chat so it’s great.

Yes I volunteer for a company that organise fund raising for various charities in the local area.

Hi. I volunteer weekly, like you went through application, induction and training process. I have 121 clients weekly, supporting video calls/phone or face to face, should it work for us both. I'm currently on a 2 week break. I've volunteered for them for nearly two years now. Reasoned I volunteer, is a believe in what they do as a service.
I've recently (August) raised money for Cancer research doing 100 squats a day for a month (that was hard) and I sponsor a different charity monthly, swopping annually to a different charity.

I work 30 hours a week, have teenagers and a toddler, life is busy. I try to stay active. Thank you for asking this question, I've not shared with anyone before. I hope you enjoy your volunteering.

I've done voluntary work on and off since I was a child as it's something my mother always did and involved me in from a young age. It started with me age 6 selling things from a table outside to raise money for the RSPCA. So my voluntary work has nothing to do with me being childfree.

Currently I volunteer for a wildlife charity (for the last 7 years) looking after injured/ill animals in their ICU. I also mentor "aspiring leaders" for a not-for-profit small business alliance, as well as deliver project management training for local charities via the same business alliance. Through my job, I get involved in corporate volunteering days (I'm part of the volunteering working group) which can be anything from cleaning up children's playgrounds to painting buildings. We get 2 paid days per year to volunteer.

Over the years, I've been involved in all sorts of volunteer work from manning the phones as a trained Samaritan to seasonal baby bird feeding.

I wouldn't feel the least pressure to do something voluntary just because you are childfree -- I think that's a version of the 'If you don't have children, you should be a global CEO/climbing Everest without oxygen/living out of your van and moving from surf spot to surf spot being a free spirit etc etc' fallacy.

But if this charity's work actually interests you, what exactly is it that you feel that makes you reluctant to go -- is it just out of your comfort zone?

I've volunteered before and after having DS depending on other commitments and whether DH was around to be with DS at night. I do coastal litterpicks, and contribute to a community garden now, but where we lived last, I used to teach literacy in a prison. I am also currently awaiting vetting/training to see if the Samaritans think I'm suitable as a listener.

I'm not childfree but I volunteer, and many on my street do. I volunteer at a babybank one day per week and my neighbours are at the foodbank or at a donation hub we have localy that supports vulnerable people. I love my day per week there, the people I have met and making a difference. But I felt v lucky that it was a good fit from the first day, I know another neighbour tried a few things that weren't quite right for her.

I volunteer 6 hours a week as a listening volunteer for Samaritans.
Its two individual shifts of 3 hours each. I’m naturally curious about other people’s lives and nothing shocks me, so it’s perfect for me. Met some good mates there too. I had a naive image before joining, of what people who volunteer as Samaritan’s would be like, holier then thou sort of thing, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Normal people with normal jobs, normal lives. Hope you find something that gives you what you are looking for.

I have been volunteering since around my 30th birthday (so nearly 30 years). Childfree.
For 25+ years I volunteered on a helpline.

Although not a parent, I also volunteered for 4 years as a primary school Governor.
For the last couple of years I've been volunteering at a theatre, which I love.
I can't imagine not volunteering - I have made friends for life, learned so much and it led me into a complete change of career. And, in a second change, I now work at an organisation where I used to volunteer.

The whole point is to do something different and meet people you would never otherwise meet! Just give it a go. You will be well supported.
(Also, by just not turning up, you are wasting the resources of the charity, who will have put a huge amount of tine and effort into recruitment and training.)

And volunteering is so much more than charity shops - there are hundreds of roles out there.

I volunteer for a charity that works on reducing isolation for people in care homes with no friends and family. Also, in a church helping cook meals for families who are struggling on a low income.

Both are 'religious' based things and I'm about as far from being religious as you can get.

A few hours a week helping out at a foodbank. It’s easy, the other volunteers are nice (there are no paid staff) and we feel that are helping people and it’s connected me to my local more.

Good for you OP and managing to actually be accepted! I'm childfree, but do work full time, and also help care for 2 sets of parents.

I enquired with a charity a few years ago. I have a full DBS check and a food safety certificate already and my full time role was listed as in demand on their website. I was told I'd need at least a 6mth commitment, would need to pass an interviewed (possibly 2 if short listed) and several other hoops.
I was happy to chop veg, make beds or help where needed. I completed their massive form, didn't hear for months, then they said they weren't taking on new volunteers.

I crochet and donate rugs to them charity, but no voluntary work in the normal sense.

@KimberleyClark don't feel guilty! I'm sure you have no reason to

(Sorry, I do have dc, but this was in Active Threads).

I think it is normal and natural to be a bit nervous before starting anything new. You only have to try it for a few months and if you aren't enjoying it, then try something else.

I've always volunteered. For most of my life in more than one place.
What do I get / have I got from it?

Friendship.
A satisfaction of having 'given something back', or contributed to society in some way.
Fun.
Satisfaction of having improved something, or having enabled something valuable to run, that might not otherwise have happened.
My dh
Something enjoyable that is nothing to do with work
Meeting loads of people I wouldn't otherwise have met.
Skills that I've transferred to other parts of my life.
Something impressive to put on my CV when I've applied for other jobs. (Not why I do it, but has certainly helped in life).
Enjoyment.

That's really interesting to hear about what you do.

I'm really curious to hear a bit more. For context I have a job that gives me no feeling of contributing to society and I was considering volunteering somewhere somehow around my full time job.

Yes. I do lots of volunteering. I work for search and rescue. Plus international search and rescue and I work in a charity that specialises in a rare condition.

wouldn’t change it for the world. Even if I worked.

My lovely friend has no children and over the years has been a telephone friend to an elderly lady once a week they’d just have a chat until she sadly passed. Now she helps run a scout group loves doing lots of adventures with the teens. Our swim club is run entirely by volunteers most are parents of kids at the club but also there were many retired folk on the cttee.

I volunteer for a charity that collects and redistributes surplus food in London - I go once a week and have for the last three years or so.

I'm self employed and haven't been in an 'employee' type role for the best part of twenty years so I was petrified before my first shift! It's completely normal but everybody there will be very happy to see you and it's does me the world of good to spend time with different people doing something that's nothing to do with work

I am a volunteer driver for a charity who provides social company for older people.

Once a month I pick up three elderly people and take them to a volunteer hosts house where we chat and have afternoon tea.

I love it and so do the old people who attend.

Thanks everyone for your replies - has been interesting to read about the range of things everyone does, and the varying time commitments which has made it all seem a bit more achievable for me. And more importantly - it's given me the kick up the bum I needed. I've booked my first shift in, so will go and see how I get on!

the cause im on the books for involves helicopters and every volunteer makes a big difference, and helping anyway you can for any charity all adds up.