Volunteers

About volunteering

Volunteering is giving unpaid help to your community, a charity, local clubs or voluntary organisations. This can mean anything from coaching a sports team or helping a neighbour to more formal roles such as being a school governor or a board member of a charity.

What you will get out of it

Volunteering gives you a chance to share your skills and talents with the community. It will also help you to develop new skills and abilities, meet new people, have fun and give something back to society.

How can I volunteer?

There are a number of ways that you can find out about volunteering opportunities: -

Volunteer Development Agencies (VDAs)

Volunteer Development Agencies (VDAs) across the country place their volunteering opportunities onto the Do-it website. Do-it is the national database of volunteering opportunities and will enable you to find a huge range volunteering opportunities in your area based on your postcode.

You can visit your local VDA. Your local VDA will be able to provide you with information on a wide range of interesting volunteering opportunities in your area. You can find your local Volunteer Development Agency in your local yellow pages under ‘CHARITABLE & VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS’ or you can go to THE DO-IT WEBSITE and simply type in your postcode to find your nearest VDA.

Group Activities

You may also want to volunteer in a group, a number of voluntary organisations run programs that allow individuals to volunteer in group activities.

The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV)- BTCV is the UK’s largest conservation charity. The organisation helps volunteers take hands-on action each year to improve their rural and urban environment. The organisation has a wide range of group volunteering activities, including Green Gyms, the opportunity to improve your fitness by involvement in conservation activities such as planting hedges, creating and maintaining community gardens, or improving footpaths.
There a number of local BTCV offices, to find yours go to www.btcv.org, email: Information@btcv.org.uk or call 01302 572 244.

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Questions about volunteering

You will probably have lots of questions about volunteering before you start, these may include: -

• Can I get my expenses paid while volunteering?
• Can I volunteer if I am claiming benefits?
• Can I volunteer in the UK if I am not an UK resident?

The answer to these and other questions on volunteering, visit the National Centre for Volunteering web site

pYou local volunteer bureau will also be able to answer any questions you have.

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Volunteering overseas

Overseas volunteering is one of the most exciting ways to give time. You can explore different cultures and countries and make a huge difference to people's lives./p>

If you are interested in volunteering overseas you need to think about:

• how long you want to volunteer for
• what kind of skills you can offer or if there's a particular area you'd like to work in
• what type of organisation you would like to volunteer in
• when you want to go
• how long it will take you to raise any money needed.

How to volunteer overseas

There are a number of organisations that you can contact to get more information on how to volunteer overseas: -

Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO)- VSO is an international development charity that works through volunteers. VSO offer a huge range of volunteering schemes overseas. For more information email: enquiry@vso.org.uk.

Worldwide Volunteering-WorldWide Volunteering aim to make it easier for young people and others to volunteer by providing instant access to information about the widest range of volunteering opportunities in the UK and overseas. For more information email crc@worldvol.co.uk or phone 01935 825588

InterVol web site provides information and advice on volunteering overseas.

The Do-it website also contains details of volunteering opportunities overseas.

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See volunteering in action

If you want to see the difference volunteering can make to your life and the lives of others you should watch the Community Channel. The Community Channel is the UK's only national digital television channel dedicated to inspiring people to do more with their lives. The channel is freely available in up to 10 million UK homes and can be viewed, 24 hours a day on Sky digital 684 and Telewest Channel 233. It can also be viewed on Freeview 46 everyday from 2:45am to 5:45am.

For more information visit Community Channel website

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To find more volunteering opportunities, visit these web-sites: -

General volunteering opportunities

Community Service Volunteers (CSV)- CSV works to reconnect people to their community through voluntary activities and has range of volunteering schemes and programmes.

The Special Constabulary (Volunteer Police Service) - Special Constables volunteer at least four hours a week of their spare time to work with their local police force. They receive regular training, have the same powers as a regular officer and wear a similar uniform. If you want to do something to help your community why not find out more at www.couldyoupolice.co.uk/specialconstables

Volunteering opportunities for older people

If you have professional or management expertise,
Retired Executives Action Clearing House (REACH)- recruits and places individuals with high levels of skills and experience with voluntary organisations - www.volwork.org.uk

Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme (RSVP) is aimed at people aged over 50.

Volunteering opportunities for younger people

Millennium Volunteers (MV) is aimed at young people aged 16-24.

Student Volunteering England- Student Volunteering England works towards ensuring every student has the opportunity to volunteer and make a positive difference in their community.

Email enquiries should be entitled ‘Volunteering and Community Participation’ and be sent to:
public_enquiry.acu@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

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