Time Spent Volunteering

Next week, well 3rd to the 9th June 2024, depending on when you read this is https://volunteersweek.org/ ?

They say people who are of the ‘V’ persuasion (Vegan or Vegetarian) are always keen to tell people about it, so why not for ‘Volunteering’? Here goes…

I’ve been an advocate of volunteering for a quarter of a century or so now. Me writing this is not about a ‘hey look at me, aren’t I wonderful!’ (I’m not) it’s about me saying volunteering gives so much back to you, as well as to others and what you believe to be good causes. I’ll focus on my journey through some of the volunteer roles I’ve undertaken, what I’ve got from it and the other volunteers I’ve volunteered alongside.

I guess my first volunteer experiences were as a 16-18 year old, most notably for me volunteering was part of achieving some sports leader and sports coaching badges. This was me volunteering for my own gain, achieving qualifications and getting experience of a sector at the time I wanted to be involved in and preparing for a career and staying involved in sport. It probably helped me get my first job as a lifeguard and then gym instructor (yes look at me now ?).

I also volunteered because I was asked by a family friend (who’d helped me out by giving me lifts to college) if I could go on a residential trip with a group of children from Chernobyl, who were visiting the village, to help supervise and support the children whilst they were doing activities. Well this was a first for me and not really something I was that interested in or knowledgeable about. Through this volunteering I learned a lot about myself and others, I was also considering if teaching might be something for me (in hindsight I don’t think it would have been a good idea, I’ve not really got the patience’. I learned some Russian/Ukrainian in ‘Nyet’ and ‘ne nada’ (No and Do Not, I felt like my mum and I was only 17). I guess I got a chance to try something without being overcommitted that whilst I enjoyed and got as Blur would say ‘a sense of enormous wellbeing’ It also exposed me to a group of people I otherwise wouldn’t have met, got to learn from and also got to know some of the ‘oldies’ from the village, who were also helping out, a bit better.

I also did work in a Volunteer Centre, where I met lots of people seeking to volunteer and was able to point them into the range of different roles they could look at, seriously there are 100s of them, why not check out your local Voluntary Action or Volunteer Centre to find out more.

Quick note to any volunteer managers / co-ordinators here, give young people a chance, yes there are checks to complete, insurances etc. etc. I understand that, but please do all you can to support these volunteers into your teams or your event. Also don’t assumer they just want that qualification and won’t stay around, you might find that those people who get something out of it, feel a sense of a need to return that, in bucket loads and might volunteer for you or others their whole life.

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Well moving into my early 20s I continued to volunteer again I enjoyed volunteering on sports events including UK and world championships in numerous sports, also at the Commonwealth Games, these opportunities did lead onto paid roles at ‘Games-time’ too. Again meeting some great people and getting a chane to do things no-one would pay me to do, by that I mean get the chance to undertake a role that gave me experience way beyond what I’d expect to get in the job market at 20/21. Plus the big sports events attract loads of people to volunteering that otherwise wouldn’t have thought about it. I was even leading a former Bank Manager of Barclays at one event, great chap and again challenged some of my perceptions. I met royalty and was even on the ‘bongs’ for News at 10 as Sir Trevor McDonald read them out. A few of my former teachers might not have been surprised to see me on the national news headlines, but perhaps they weren’t expecting it to be something positive.

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In my mid and late twenties, other things started to take priorities, I could no longer volunteer for long periods of time at an event, disappear for weekends / weeks at a time. I had to keep working, pay the bills and my children came along. Honestly volunteering to get away from my children was not the motive for this, I’d done some of this before they arrived.

I ran some ‘corporate volunteer’ experiences matching teams from large companies to ‘volunteer days’ doing things like creating a raised bed garden for a local disability day centre or fixing up a building for their use (I did some of these myself and arranged them for my teams later in my career – always great fun). Doing this with what were primarily office based people and teams was great fun, watching dynamics shift, people learning what they could do and also seeing the end benefit by meeting the ‘service users’ (hate that term, but lacking a better one) themselves, having a BBQ at the end of the summer. I view these types of event as far better than what others were doing as ‘team-building’ at the time and the feedback we got from the companies was also along those lines.

That being said, whilst a change to the day job is great for some, to taste a new career, put something back etc. I can also see why volunteers with particular sets of skills, offer these to charities as what takes them a couple of hours, could take the charity or community group days. Thinking accountants acting as financial secretary/trustee roles etc.

My work life at this point was a series of contracted appointments, largely as a Project Manager, Change Manager or general professional service support. But I took on a project in the voluntary sector, part of it, that had a volunteer team to work with young people in care, who needed an independent visitor. These Independent visitors, visit young people in care who don’t have that person in their lives, best way as I’d describe it today it’s almost an uncle type role, you take them out to do an activity, talk with them, understand what’s bothering them, what they want to do, if there’s anything they don’t like. It’s sort of light touch mentoring, but not defined by how you drive them forward, it is important but it’s as much about understanding the here and now, having a good time and not feeling like someone is only there with them because they’re being paid to be. Well as I finished my stint on that project, I thought I could do this myself. So, I volunteered again, usually only needed one half or a full day once a month (after the training) – For me this was great I was really busy, so couldn’t afford too much time, I was able to help and support young people who weren’t afforded the same homelife as I had been fortunate enough to have. My longest IV relationship here was with a young man I started working with at around 10 and volunteered with him all the way until he wasn’t eligible for the service anymore. When we finished, we agreed to stay in touch and did this for a few months, until it came to a natural conclusion. Some 8 years or so later, if he reached out to me, I’d still go meet him for a chat.

I’ve done lots of other roles from website manager to steering group member and lots of volunteer days / events here and there. I’ve also gone full circle and am back sports volunteering. Well coaching with my middle child’s rugby team. The benefits of this to me are spending more time with him, having fun and have met some of the other coaches, with whom we can chat, share a common interest and maybe have one or two beers on a Sunday.

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I’m not finished yet, who knows what the rest of my forties will bring in terms of volunteering, but I hope to keep doing it formally and informally for as long as I can. It might even keep me young, although probably too late for that, but things are all relative.

To those people I’ve met whilst volunteering, thank you, some for your experience whether you knew you were sharing it or not, some for your ‘leadership’ again formal or not, leadership isn’t about a title, it’s about choosing who to look to for guidance, taking the best of them and others, combining it and passing that on in your own style.

If you’ve never volunteered before, maybe look at some of those https://volunteersweek.org/ ?stories. If you’ve volunteered in the past but aren’t at the moment, why not consider it again at the right time for you.

#VolunteersWeek