voluntary work in specific sectors
The sectors detailed below deal with working with:
Working with Children and Young People
www.familyfriend.org.uk gives practical and emotional support to disadvantaged families (London: RBK&C)
www.kithandkids.org.uk; Kith and Kids overall aim is to empower families living with disabilities to overcome their social isolation and access the services they need.
www.savethechildren.org.uk - Save the Children need volunteers for specialist roles, as well as general help in fund raising and in their shops
www.getconnected.org.uk is a free, confidential telephone and email helpline for young people across the UK, to help young people with a wide range of issues including bullying, abuse, homelessness, sexuality and mental health. The helpline is staffed by employees and volunteers who provide emotional support and further information about other services across the country that may be able to provide young people with the help that they need.
Get Connected are currently looking to recruit more volunteers to help staff the helpline and are interested in hearing from those who would be able to cover the helpline's daytime shifts. They are also looking to broaden the age range of their volunteer helpline workers. Working on the helpline offers volunteers the chance to empower young people to make a real difference to their own lives, whilst also providing the opportunity to develop one's own communication skills and meet lots of new people. All helpline volunteers receive full training and young people who contact the helpline can expect to receive the same level of quality from helpline workers irrespective of their age or their background. The helpline is open from 1pm-11pm, everyday and the service is free.
Volunteering to work with youngsters facing the world of work.
In the classroom
www.businessdynamics.org.uk Business Dynamics is looking for volunteers to go into the classroom and inspire deprived young prople about the world of work. If you have set up your own business and would be ready to share your experiences with young students, then Business Dynamics's Blue Skies programme would love to hear from you. Business Dynamics is shortly merging with the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship to form the Enterprise Education Trust www.enterprise-education.org.uk
Help inspire youngsters into Science, Engineering and Technology
www.setnet.org.uk/ambassadors. Anyone with an interest in Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths (STEM) who would like to inspire youngsters in STEM subjects can become a Science and Engineering Ambassador (SEA). The project is funded by the DTI and there are more than 13000 Ambassadors form a wide range of backgrounds, from physics professors to business men.
Become a School Governor
www.sgoss.org.uk School Governors One Stop Shop is a charity which recruits volunteers to become Governors in schools throughout England.
Voluntary work with Medical Charities and the disadvantaged
Volunteering for the Alzheimer’s Society
The Alzheimer’s Society (www.alzheimers.org.uk) is the leading care and research charity for people with all forms of dementia, their families and carers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1979, and has been going from strength to strength since then. As people live longer, the incidence of dementia will go up. It is something that is going to affect an increasing number of us. The Alzheimer’s Society works to improve quality of life for people with dementia and their carers. It campaigns for improvements in treatment and supports research into cause, cure and care.
The Alzheimer’s Society relies on its volunteers for a whole range of activities – everything from committee work to organising fundraising events, from admin and IT to getting involved with major campaigns. Volunteers are involved in service provision – helping to run day centres and luncheon clubs, helping at activity clubs or tea dances. Volunteers act as befrienders and carers’ contacts. They produce newsletters, decorate homes and offices and help with gardening and shopping. As you can see, there’s plenty for people to do! Volunteering is a very positive activity. It gives people a chance to use the skills they’ve gained over a lifetime to help others and to make a difference to people’s lives. But it’s a two way process. Volunteers gain friends, a sense of worth and the chance to improve skills. It’s an excellent way to ease into retirement – you can do it when you want to, but it keeps you involved in society and connected to people.
The Alzheimer’s Society would love to hear from you if any of this sounds interesting.
Contact: Tracy Haupt for London and the East on 0207 306 0824
Christine Cribb for Wales and the West on 0117 967 2997
Andrew Oldham for Northern Ireland and the North of England on 01904 633664
Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research is the world's leading charity dedicated to beating cancer through research, and their work has saved millions of lives. They offer a wide range of volunteering opportunities - see supportus.cancerresearchuk.org/volunteering
Prostate Cancer Charity
This is the most comprehensive of the UK charities working in the field of prostate cancer, a disease which is of particular relevance to older men. They provide support and information to anyone concerned about prostate cancer, fund research into the disease and work actively to improve services and public awareness. For specific jobs currently on offer see www.prostate-cancer.org.uk/
Mencap
Volunteering with Mencap, the learning disability charity www.mencap.org.uk
British Heart Foundation
Volunteering with British Heart Foundation, whose vision is to create a world where people no longer die prematurely from heart disease www.bhf.org.uk
Volunteering with The Stroke Association
The Stroke Association's main focus is to prevent stroke, and to give support to people who have had a stroke and their families through information and rehabilitation and support services. For volunteering to help see www.stroke.org.uk.
Volunteering with Royal National Institute of Blind People.
Supporting blind and partially sighted people. For volunteering see www.rnib.org.uk/
Volunteering to help create a community of friendship for people living with HIV
The Cara Trust - see www.caralife.com. We are currently looking for catering volunteers and complementary therapists. Cara runs a number of peer support groups that have a shared meal as part of the focus. This serves a number of purposes including facilitating peer support, and fits in with our ethos of creating a community of friendship for people living with HIV. Accordingly, Cara is a very supportive place to volunteer and our service users are very appreciative of volunteers in these roles. For more information about these roles and application forms, please contact Alex Huggins, alex@caralife.com, tel. 020 7243 6147
Volunteering to help families with disabilities
www.kithandkids.org.uk The overall aim of Kith and Kids is to empower families living with disabilities to overcome their social isolaion and access the services they need.
Working with older people
www.wrvs.org.uk As the WVS (Women's Voluntary Service) this organisation played an important role on the Home Front during World War 2. Now it includes men as well as women, and is one of UKs largest volunteering organisations, helping to make a diference to the lives of older people. It covers a wide range of services, including hospital volunteering, community volunteering and emergency response teams.
'Open Age' aims to open doors to an active life for people over 50, and it operates in London out of more than 50 community centres as well as its own sites, offering activities and courses on more than 160 different subjects. It welcomes volunteers to help in this work. See www.openage.org.uk. Also, if you live in or near London and would like to volunteer to work with over 50s, New Horizons is always looking for volunteers to help run their activities in a modern, lively, convivial centre in Chelsea. See www.new-horizons-chelsea.org.uk
Community Network has teamed with Age UK’s ‘Fit as a Fiddle Project’ and is creating telephone groups that allow over-65s to connect with others from the comfort of their own home, while learning about useful and relevant ways to incorporate healthy eating and physical activity into their lives.
Community Network are looking for volunteers who are aged 50 or over to run these groups (and we provide free training on how to do that). Call Elizabeth Shaw on 020 7923 5251. See http://www.community-network.org
.
Independent Age is a charity which runs a national network of volunteers who offer friendly local support to older people. see http://www.independentage.org/volunteer.aspx
NEW Good Company brings together people who want to share time with older people in their area who’d like more company. Sharing company and experiences helps older people maintain a sense of independence and purpose. See goodcompany.org
Volunteering in Sport, the arts and the environment
www.timebank.org.uk runs targeted volunteer campaigns in sport, the arts, the environment etc
www.volunteering.org.uk Volunteering England’s section on sports volunteering.
www.runningsports.org provides skills and support for volunteers in sport.
See www.environmentjob.co.uk, UK’s no1 website for jobs, courses and events in the environmental sector
www.environmentcareers.org.uk Environmental careers and volunteering
www2.btcv.org.uk BTCV (formerly the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) is the UK's largest practical conservation charity, working with more than 200,000 volunteers every year to help people bring about positive environmental change. They have volunteering opportunities across the UK and overseas.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk The National Trust is looking for volunteers for working holidays or full time volunteering with "Europe's most successful conservation movement."
NEW Voluntary Arts Scotland has details of Voluntary jobs in the arts in Scotland
www.voluntaryarts.org
Volunteering to Work with Social Entrepreneurs
UnLtdconnect is a network of business professionals from all sectors of society who have volunteered their time and expertise to help social enterprises. unltd.org.uk/
www.can-online.org.uk CAN supports social entrepreneurs to scale up their businesses and maximise their social impact. They provide office space, business support and funds. They do this through:
-
Social Investment - leveraging capital funds and strategic growth support into established social enterprises to enable them to grow and replicate their business model
-
CAN Mezzanine is an award-winning, sustainable social enterprise providing high quality office accommodation for the third sector
-
CAN Mezzanine houses over 100 organisations from the Third Sector : if you would like to volunteer for work in this sector, please let us know (see About Us for email contact) and we will pass it on to CAN.
Regeneration work in East London www.elba-1.org.uk assists individuals and companies who volunteer for involvement in regeneration of East London.
Volunteering Media Skills
Media Trust acts as a broker between charities needing media skills and people who can provide those skills. See www.mediatrust.org/jobs
Volunteering to work overseas
See our topic on Community Service overseas - working holidays and VSO
NEW www.oneworld365.org gives details of organisations offering work, volunteering and travel opportunities overseas.
NEW Volunteering in London
The Kensington and Chelsea Volunteer centre
The K&C Volunteer Centre have a number of interesting opportunities
www.voluntarywork.org.uk
See also their list of 'festive opportunities for volunteering', including the Science Museum and Kensington Palace
Other volunteering
Volunteering to help a fellow Scot.
ScotsCare, the charity for Scots in London, is asking for volunteers to contribute some time to the Scottish community. (For instance, they are looking for 'Blether Buddy volunteers' to call elderly Scots for a chat once a week.)
www.scotscare.com/help-us.php
.
Volunteer Drivers
Many local councils are looking for volunteer drivers to provide lifts for local residents eg - Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's Community Car Scheme. You use your own car or the Council's metro cab, the timing is entirely flexible, and expenses, training and support are provided. Tel 020 8968 2040
Will you volunteer to drive out-patients to the Marie Curie Hospice in Hamstead?....more
There may also be opportunities for us oldies with organisations such as: VSO www.vso.org.uk/
See also:
‘Jobs on offer’ for specific voluntary and charity jobs currently on offer, including trusteeships
.
|
