Volunteering in three different roles.

tell me a little bit about your volunteering role, and my immediate answer would be which one. But I know that you are very busy being. You do a lot of volunteering, don't you? Yeah. Well, at the moment, I'm currently doing three different volunteer work roles, and one of them's only about twice a year, which is the, uh, the funky club nights

It's a nightclub for people with disabilities, and I'm one of the people in charge of doing the advertising and, um, on the compare on the nights. Fantastic. Lots of hard work there, I bet

Yeah, in the in the lead up to a club night, it can get quite busy. And then it's just a case. Well, I wouldn't say just the case, but, uh, after that, it's more ho hoping that the night goes smoothly and everyone has a good time

Brilliant. And what about your other roles? Um, on Tuesday mornings, I volunteer at a charity shop, H, which stands for A and the Children's hospice. I'm I'm usually based on the shop floor, keeping it tidy, stacking the stacking the shelves, answering questions from customers when I can, and if not, then then pushing them towards someone who might be able to help

I, um recently been more doing more more cleaning and stacking the shops been refurbished and needs needs a bit of attention to keep it nice and smart, but yeah. So I've been working there for, I think, six years this year. Wow

And I really enjoy it. And what about with your work for CBS? Right. Well, I write articles for the blog, um, all to do with volunteering and different aspects of that

Um, so I've written articles before about things Like how, How, How volunteering can challenge stigma the way people might perceive, perceive, um, and others. Well, the UN here, basically, um, I've, um my my, my my latest articles about like, um, they, um, benefits of volunteering. Um, I've, um, written about kind of like how to get into volunteering in the first place

So kind of all the things that you might need to do when you're looking for for voluntary work, things like that. And then there's the coffee. The online coffee mornings, which is usually when someone does it

Someone from an organisation does a presentation, and, uh, about what? What what they do. What? Their work. What? What? What the um, the organisation does and, um, what they want what they want from volunteers

Basically so volunteers, which they usually are. They talk a bit about what they'd like people to help with. And, uh, if, um, sometimes people come to those online for those to, uh, because they're looking that they want to find volunteer work

And in some ways, it's a bit like matchmaking in that sense. But some people, sometimes people come from other organisations as well. And that can form network to do to do a bit of a brilliant lots of lots of volunteering

You've found a real busy bee, don't you? So how did you start getting into volunteering? It was some years ago, that's for sure. Um, I was about to mention, uh from somewhere that called called volunteers. Plus where I found out a few things about volunteering

But it was so long ago that I barely I don't remember much about it. Except that III I found out about other companies through other places. I can I could volunteer at that time like, uh, there was a There was There was a company called Youth Action, which had various projects that people could get involved in volunteering with

And, um, I did some I did at least two different different projects with them. Um, so I don't know. I guess I just kind of tried out a few things at the time

I was looking for a career in admin. Um, so I was trying to, um, do volunteer work. That would kind of put me towards that

Um, yeah. In the end, I realised that I'm more of a people person than sitting behind desks doing part of the phone kind of person. Not I'm knocking that at all, but it's not really what I'd want to be doing

That's really interesting. So doing that volunteering kind of, you know, maybe you decide what path you wanted to be on and what you wanted to do. Yeah, I

I enjoy what I do so much that I, uh I wouldn't want to give anything up. And what do you enjoy most about volunteering? Yeah, I like talking to people. I like helping people

Um, I like, um, being helpful and things that are doing things that are constructive and positive. and productive. Brilliant

I think that's probably it in a That's probably it. In a nutshell. I just enjoy doing it

And and I like, um, being able to kind of in one way or another make a difference to whether it's somebody's experience of shopping or just generally in life. You know, like, for example, the funky club is a great way to meet people. So it gives people who come to the club nights a chance to make new friends or just enjoy a night night out dancing

Yeah, it sounds like you're volunteering is amazing and you're really helping people, and it must be so rewarding for you. II. I like the way it's more flexible than paid work

Obviously, you have to still have to show up on time, and you know all the sorts of stuff that you do with with other work. But in some ways it's more flexible. So I say, I don't know if you need

If if if I need any time, night time off, for whatever reason, I only have to ask, and usually that would be fine. There's not. There's not like a how procedure that you have to go down, which you might do with other not as not as formal

Yeah, people can work around you. And what you what time you want to give, so Yeah, much more flexible. You're right

Have you got a particular highlight? Anything? Any particular memory or highlight of your volunteering work in the past, and hopefully we'll do again. I've been helping out with Thai chi glasses. Oh, wow

Fantastic. Yeah, I've, uh, basically like, um uh, what's the word? Demonstrating some of the exercises and stuff. So, um yes

So my the teacher does most of that, but being the being the But when me, as the class assistant would sometimes demonstrate the things with her or just be in in the group with the others and show just show how it's done. Really amazing. That's brilliant

So, yeah, again, really varied. All your roles are, you know, completely different, aren't they? Fantastic. Um, so what would you say to someone who didn't wasn't sure about whether to volunteer or not, Def Definitely

Go. Definitely. Go for it

E. Even though you you don't get paid for volunteering, you get rewarded with, um, usually a usually a thank you so sometimes, uh, satisfaction. Knowing that you've helped you've done something for somebody else can feel rewarding

It can really build Build your self confidence. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for taking time to talk to me today

I mean, you just sound so busy and so positive about Vol. Volunteering so that you you know, you've been fantastic for answering my questions. Thanks very much

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