Features
Hands Up for National Volunteers’ Week
June 6, 2012 Nicola  |
In support of National Volunteers’ Week, The Fresh Outlook examines volunteering in the UK and why you should get involved.
The annual campaign, which began in 1984, is designed to highlight the pivotal role played by the army of volunteers who give up their time to contribute to society.
According to Volunteering England, more than 20 million people across the UK give up over 100 million hours of their time every year to support charitable causes and help others. This unpaid activity is estimated to be worth £40bn to our economy and be instrumental to the survival of many essential public facilities.
In the wake of government spending cuts, both small and large charities across the UK are relying on volunteers more than ever, according to a report by New Philanthropy Capital. The study, which surveyed over 100 charities across England and Wales, found that two thirds of charities are cutting front line services and nearly three quarters are making redundancies. One in 10 said they are at risk of closing down all together. In response to renewed financial hardship, three quarters of charities surveyed said they are drafting in more volunteers.
With charities’ survival depending more than ever on people giving up their time to support them, why don’t more people volunteer? The ‘Helping Out’ survey, a national study published by the Cabinet Office, found that amongst the top five reasons given for not volunteering were: ‘not enough spare time’ (82%), ‘don’t know how to find out about getting involved’ (39%), and ‘not got the right skills/experience’ (39%).
In reality there are a wide variety of volunteering opportunities across the UK, suited to all different abilities and interests that are easy to find out about. A quick search of volunteering website www.do-it.org.uk, found 366 volunteering opportunities within only a 5 mile radius of The Fresh Outlook’s office – from helping out local scout groups or leafleting, to working in charity shops or shaking a collection tin.
The Fresh Outlook went out to visit two UK charities based in Cardiff to find out more about their volunteers and the different roles they play.
First up, FareShare Cymru, dedicated to tackling food poverty and reducing food waste. The charity, which redistributes surplus food from retailers and manufacturers to those who need it most, “could not operate at all” without the support of their 70 or so volunteers, says Guy Boswell, volunteer co-ordinator. They’re always looking for volunteers to sort food, drive delivery vehicles, hand out leaflets and raise funds, amongst other things. In fact, says Guy, “I am sure everyone out there has a skill we could use.”
Volunteering isn’t just about putting your existing skills to use, but learning new ones too. In the light of growing unemployment in the UK, volunteering is increasingly seen as a way for people to both use their time productively and gain new skills. FareShare Cymru supports this notion: “Two of our main aims are reducing food waste and food poverty. But equally important is generating volunteering opportunities, particularly where they can help unemployed people back in to work,” says Guy. Indeed, several volunteers have gone on to find employment with the new skills they gained whilst working at FareShare Cymru. According to a report by v, the youth volunteering charity, 87% of employers think volunteering has a positive effect on careers for people aged 16-25, so volunteering really could represent a route back in to employment.
On top of potentially improving your chances of finding paid work, there are a whole host of benefits in store for volunteers at FareShare Cymru, as Guy explains: “The benefits are more varied than the volunteers: getting out of the house; doing something worthwhile; having fun; getting work experiences and gaining training and qualifications.”
The Fresh Outlook met one volunteer, Jowa Coffey, who has been working as a part-time administrator at FareShare Cymru for just over a month. Jowa finds volunteering to be a valuable use of her spare time, saying: “For me, it’s a matter of carving out time to help others, rather than just focusing on my life and the kids’ lives. It’s about personal fulfillment, knowing that I’m helping an organisation on some small level that’s doing something that’s important to me.”
When told that 82% of people who don’t volunteer give the reason as ‘not having enough time’, Jowa said: “I think if you can just give an hour of your time, if everyone were to just give an hour of their time, it would make a big difference.”
Jowa chose to volunteer at FareShare Cymru because she believes in what they do and is interested in finding sustainable solutions to the problems of food waste and food poverty. She thinks more people would volunteer if they realised they could join an organisation that matches their interests: “If you go to the local volunteer centre, they segregate their volunteer opportunities by sector. So you can say ‘I have an interest in wildlife’ for example, and you can go through the opportunities related to that.” So it’s less a question of enough time, but the value you attach to the way you spend that time.
Next up, The SAFE Foundation, established in 2007 to help local communities around the world develop their own projects to tackle poverty and improve the quality of their lives. In the UK, the team is committed to promoting social harmony and global citizenship. The team consists of a core of around 60 regular and ad hoc volunteers who undertake a variety of roles from admin and fundraising to face painting and international education. Managing director Lucy Dickensen describes them as “paramount, vital”, saying: “They run the show.”
She goes on to explain the culture of volunteers that makes The SAFE Foundation what it is today: “It’s about people doing good stuff and the way they feel about that afterwards and the recognition that you haven’t gained material wealth, from the input you’ve put in, but you feel amazing. That makes people come back and that’s how the organisation functions.”
Someone who keeps coming back is volunteer Stella Tsouknidas, 22, from Rumney. She told The Fresh Outlook: “My background was pretty horrible I suppose, I got bullied a lot, I always thought I was never good enough for anything … since joining The SAFE Foundation, it’s been pretty much amazing. They’ve given the confidence that I can achieve whatever I set my mind to.”
Stella responded to an advertisement last December for volunteers to work in Sierra Leone delivering HIV/Aids education and life skills, and continued volunteering part time after her return from Africa. Having left school with no GCSEs and slipped in to a life of unemployment, it would have been easy for Stella to become one of the 39% of people who don’t volunteer because they think they have no relevant skills or experience, but as Stella explains, everyone has something to offer: “I didn’t have any confidence at all when I first started volunteering, but you get used to it. The people I volunteer with, they’re amazing and if I can’t do something, they’ll give me something that I can do… There’s always something you can do where you feel like you’re making a big difference.”
MD Lucy agrees and is keen to encourage everyone to try volunteering: “I would say that everybody has a skill … and every skill is relevant somewhere, and can make good things happen. More often than not, the organisation that you volunteer with will really appreciate any tiny, small thing that is offered and really value your contribution.”
So no matter what skills you have, what your circumstances are or how much time you have there is an opportunity out there to suit everyone. Why not mark National Volunteers’ Week by doing your bit?
National Volunteers’ Weeks runs from June 1-7.
To find out more about the charities featured, visit:
www.faresharecymru.org.uk
By Sarah Harper
[Image courtesy of Mic Wernej]
