Let's face it, most people who volunteer are passionate about helping people - but for some influencing social change is also important. Volunteering for a campaigning organisation allows volunteers to help make things happen for large charities. Find out what the grass roots activists get up to here.

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Thursday May 25, 2006

A bit of glitz and glam

Tuesday morning, nothing too exciting, reading the papers...suddenly interrupted by the opportunity to accompany our head of campaigns on a trip to Milbank and an interview at the ITV TV studio.

As it turned out, not terribly scintillating. It was a pre-recorded interview conducted over the phone, so not a roving camera or egotistical presenter in sight. Still, the studios were more than a might swanky, from the glamorous leggy receptionist to the 2 inch thin computer screens being grunted at by red faced men.  And let's face it, you've got to be pretty unimaginative not to get a bit excited about being driven down Whitehall in a Merc!

What it really made me think about is the branding and marketing of charities and their increasing prevalence in the media. State of the art recording studios, kitsch star studded balls, PR masterminded campaign launches are all a million miles away from the people and the issues charities campaign for. I didn't expect Shelter to have a brand manager and a celebrities liaison officer. But we need them.

Shelter is an organisation which runs over 50 Housing Aid Centres nationwide, where specialist advisers offer free housing advice to over 170,000 people a year. We also tackle the root causes of Britain's housing crisis by campaigning for new laws, policies and solutions. 

Clearly, the housing officers manning the phones and the policy officers influencing government are the foundation on which the organisation lies. But the people who can promote us on TV or get Davina McCall to mention us in OK are pretty integral too.

Want to find out more about Shelter? Click on www.shelter.org.uk for all the latest news, reports and campaigns

Posted by Rachael ( 2:01 PM )
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Monday May 22, 2006

Even Richard Ashcroft Supports Oxfam!!

One of the bonuses of being an Oxfam Outreach Campaigner is that you get  to see gigs for free....although this isnt the only reason why i do it!! It also involves campaigning very hard to convince those coming to watch the gig  to sign the petition! 

As a supporter of the Control Arms Campaign, Richard Ashcroft  invited Oxfam to join him on his last tour across the UK. i joined the fun last friday (19th May).

The best time to grab people to fill in petitions i have found is when they are queueing in for toilets, to get into a  venue etc. as they dont have much else to do (and its a bit difficult to escape us!) so the minute people started queueing to get intio the gig we targeted them with lots of information about the arms trade...in all situations like this you get the awkward few but a lot of people are very interested to find out more and may even go on to sign the petition!  People often appear to support the campaign but wont put pen to paper as  they ferel that petitions dont work or they dont want to pass on personal information due to the fear of being contacted!  For those fans that 'worship' Richard Ashcroft, telling them that he had asked us to be there - scored big brownie points!! Although what i learnt quickly  was not to embarrass  myself by mistaking  Richard Ashcroft for someone else  -  knowing that  Richard Ashcroft had previously been  a  member of a boy band  but not realising it was the Verve and putting my foot in it! whoops!!

Being able to campaign inside  also  had its  ups and downs  it became somewhat clearer that we had been asked to be there…but we lost the queue and had to distract people away from buying beer to sign our petition, a lot harder than grabbing peoples attention when they were in the queue.

The Control Arms campaign takes a slightly different approach to other petitions, with the aims of collecting a ‘million faces’. This means that as well as getting all those names on paper we had the added task of convincing people to have their photo taken or draw their face! im rapidly learning how many people are photo shy and when one of our cameras ran out of memory –I ended up getting people to draw their faces anyway! This had the added bonus of encouraging groups of friends to compete against each other to see who had the best drawing skills …with some rather amusing attempts!! This took a little longer but it made it easier to chat and giggle with the ‘artists’!

While Richard Ashcroft was performing we stood little chance of getting people to support the campaign…which meant we had time to socialise with the other campaigners and enjoy the gig ourselves!! Even though I had forgotten that Richard Ashcroft’s history was in the Verve having seen the gig I’m not likely to forget it in a hurry!!

Posted by Helen Bryant ( 1:37 PM )
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Friday May 19, 2006

Prepare to be inspired...

I spoke to a young woman this morning who has had to move 4 times in the last year with her two children under 5.

She left her partner after his violence became so vicious she feared for her children's safety. The women's refuge she fled to was "horrendous, unsafe, and the three of us got one single bed."

The colourful highlights of her next 2 "homes" included a flat with no gas, heating or hot water and another in a "ghetto" neighbourhood up five floors of a stairwell so riddled with urine, vomit and rubbish that she would carry both her children up them.

She is now living in a tiny flat, sharing a bed with her daughter, waiting for a permanent council home to become available.

There are currently over 100,000 people living in temporary accommodation in the UK. That can be anything from B&Bs and hostels to properties specifically allocated to those waiting for a council house. And whilst the number people sleeping rough in the UK has fallen – the current estimate is around 500 – the number of households living in temporary accommodation had risen 120% since Labour came to power.

 There are scores of reasons why people become homeless – parents and friends being unable to put them up, violence, relationship breakdown, mortgage or rent arrears; but very few reasons for why anyone living in the forth richest country in the world should have to endure the kind of year this young family have.

I've met many people working for Shelter who are fiercely passionate and dedicated to the organisation they work for. But this woman is only a couple of years older than me, and is severely depressed as she feels she is " wrecking her kids' lives by making them stay in these places."

All she wants is a home. The inspiration to volunteer for an organisation striving to provide just that for hundreds of thousands of people across the UK has come most pertinently from her.

Want to find out more about Shelter or how you can get involved? Visit www.shelter.org.uk

Posted by Rachael ( 2:49 PM )
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Tuesday May 16, 2006

B'OSCARS

Hi everyone finished uni hoorray!!!!!  No more exams for another year anyway woohooo

The most recent volunteering I did was the B'OSCARS was a real success with employees and children and young people.  The B’OSCARS was held to recognise and celebrate achievements of children and young people, theme originating from the OSCARS, presenting young people with certificates and an Easter egg, fitting in with holiday celebrations.  I personal thought the whole event went very well and that if possible should happen again with perhaps a bit more time to organise the event possible looking into the presentation of the awards making time for people to say something if they wish when receiving their award.  Possible happening again next year!!!!!!  Certificates were given out for volunteering, personal achievements group work etc....No limits were put on it.

The B'OSCARS was also held to make young people more aware of the young volunteers group 'THE PARTY!!!'  the group for Under 25's, I run with the volunteer development manager. Which will be gathering on Thursday evening hopefully!!!!lol  'THE PARTY!!!' may be changing its name though possible to 'The NEV' depends what happens at the next meeting.  NEV stands for North East Volunteers.  Which do you reckon sounds better??

If you want to find out more about volunteering for Barnardo's go to the website follow the link. http://www.barnardos.org.uk/work_with_us/volunteering.htm  It has volunteering throughout the UK on there not just the North East.

Right lets see if can get this posted this time....Lost it first time LoL

Posted by Moira ( 1:42 PM )
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Hello from the North East

Moira, here from the North East. 22 next week  think I'm partying a week early ha-ha!!!

Interests - Volunteering, gallivanting and chatting on msn. Ohh..and socialising (ALSO known as DRINKING with my mates!!!!!)Music very important you need MUSIC- Irish, Pop and DANCE and mixture of other stuff. 

When I'm not volunteering I erm.... well up until recently I was studying for my degree BA Business & Human Resources.  Just did my finals this week. Glad its over.  I've forgotten what its like to not have to do work no problems relaxing though. When I'm not volunteering I like going on hols cant wait for them.  Thinking of travel I've gone all over the UK with Barnardo's Young People's Advisory Group - whoa longwinded, what we like to call 'FRAME' got into through volunteering but don't go to volunteer particularly- we discuss issues for children and young people within the UK.

I got involved in volunteering through boredom and needing something to do in my spare time and wanted to be able to meet new people, main reasons really.  I thought it would be fun and help me to learn so new experiences /skills in a FUN way!!!  Starting volunteer for a couple hours for 1 charity which closed down at the time then Barnardo's came about and I will be volunteering with them for 5 years in October.  Why???  I hear you say...Its been great for me socially bout also helped me in my studies.  It has brought me loads of confidence and meant I've got involved in loads of things I never thought I would get the chance to do. 

Moira

Posted by Moira ( 9:48 AM )
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Monday May 15, 2006

Why Oxfam?

Oxfam is perhaps one of the most heared about charities which works towards overcoming poverty and suffering and poverty on an international scale, so following joint initiatives such as 'Make Poverty History' last year, you may not need me to go into much depth about why Charities like Oxfam are so important.

So why do i volunteer for Oxfam? im not completely sure myself - it just kinda happened! i was pretty fortunate being brought up in a family where there was a lot of support for Oxfam and other international charities - by the age of 16 i was already running a Fair-Trade stall for our local church! So it wasn't too surprising when i ended up going to Swaziland or setting up the People and Planet group at Liverpool uni.

While at uni i casually got involved in Liverpool's Oxfam Campaign group...but when i realised that volunteering for Oxfam could get me into music festivals for free...my enthusiasm grew rapidly! i found myself volunteering at WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) Festival 2004 standing on fire-towers making sure people didnt set fire to the campsute at night and enjoying the music during the day! In 2005 i found myself enjoying Glastonbury, a slightly more muddy experience, stewarding at a gate - letting people in and out and directing lost souls in the right direction for wellies etc! As well as getting in free to festivals and meeting lots of groovy people - its also a cool way of fundraising for Oxfam, (they have struck a deal with festival organisers who offer donations in return for stewards)

Living in London, has given me the opportunity to become more heavily involved in Oxfams work as a member of their London Outreach Team. This involves going to local gigs (already seen Feeder and Bellx1 this year!) events such as the Brick Lane Festival and pretty much anything else that offers the opportunity for us to get lots of people signing petitions for relevant campaigns - the main one at the moment being the Control Arms Campaign ( www.controlarms.org).

Having had so much fun campaigning for Oxfam and a real passion for everything they get up to - i have managed to combine this with my present job, setting up an Oxfam campaign group at the university where i am based. I have been able to engage students in Oxfams campaigns through fun and imaginative ways - making Fair-Trade Candy Floss to raise awareness of Fair-trade issues on the lead up to the WTO meeting in December and more recently getting messy turning biscuits into faces using icing and sweets as part of the Control Arms Million Faces campaign.  

 

 

Posted by Helen Bryant ( 9:36 AM )
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Thursday May 11, 2006

What the hell's an internship anyway?

The way in which we volunteer is changing. People don’t necessarily associate volunteering with a sustained, regular commitment to a cause, group or (especially) political party. Instead, many volunteer for a short but very intense period: someone seeking to gain a Duke of Edinburgh award for example, or wanting to spend 6 months of a gap year teaching English or conserving obscure wildlife in a developing country. Then there is the internship. Extended work experience over a set period of time which is often structured as and must be applied for in the same way as a job. 

Practice, is what you mainly gain. Practice in being interviewed and in working in the environment and niche you see yourself in for the foreseeable future. It’s also the only way to really find out how organisations and people work and interact. You underestimate how much you garner not from being told things, but just from overhearing (or eves-dropping on!) conversations and phone calls and sitting in on meetings. 

In the press office we organise and respond to anything in the news about Shelter – from the services it provides to the issues it campaigns on to its response to government policy. This can be national headline news about changes in housing policy. It can be launching major fundraising campaigns like our recent Red Chair sit in. And it can be far less glam – making sure local papers take photos of 10 year olds who raised money for us, or responding to journalists writing articles on things like the rise in house prices.

One of the main jobs for a press officer is to dispel rumours, misconceptions and inaccuracies about the work of the organisation.  We also have to organise interviews and provide briefings of what is to be said.

So as an intern you are involved in all of this. Less of the front line at first, and far more of the sorting through press cuttings and getting to know the photocopier and all its idiosyncrasies. You’re the one who’s gonna get the nod to stuff envelopes with campaign material when no one else can be arsed. But, if my experience is anything to go buy, you are also entitled to expect a lot of friendly help and support and have the opportunity to question anyone about the work they do.

So as long as you have your wits about you and your eavesdropping ear finely tuned, you can gain a huge amount. You also find the more you read, the more emotionally involved you become, the greater your determination is to stay in the charity sector and to continue to support the organisation you work for. 

Fancy finding out more about being a volunteer or an intern? Check out

http://england.shelter.org.uk/howtohelp/howtohelp-5892.cfm?c=fullhouse for more info.

Posted by Rachael ( 3:02 PM )
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Wednesday May 10, 2006

Introducing Helen (crazy and a little confused!)

Hi Helen here, welcome to my BLOG!

So a little bit about me to start you off I'm sure over the coming weeks and months you will get an even better idea of just how crazy (and slightly confused!) I am!

 
Just over 25 years ago I was brought into the world, starting off in Trowbridge (just outside of Bath) and then as a result of my Dads job moved house lots – they ended up in Coventry where I finished school! I then ran off to do some groovy overseas volunteering in Swaziland, Southern Africa for the best part of a year before going to Uni in Liverpool.

 
In theory I was at the University of Liverpool to study Sociology and Social Policy (and somehow managed to finish the degree!) but in practice I spent most of my time hanging around the Students Union becoming heavily involved in Liverpool Student Community Action (volunteering stuff!) and running the People and Planet group there, campaigning on world poverty, human rights and the environment!

 
After graduating, I ended up staying in Liverpool for another 2 years. Where I had loadsa jobs but mainly found myself working in Community Development and as a volunteer co-ordinator enabling adults with learning disabilities to access volunteering opportunities.

 
Last summer I finally managed to move to the Big Smoke (London)! where I am now a volunteer co-ordinator for a local university – getting students active and volunteering!

 
Hope you enjoyed reading my brief life history and will keep in touch with me through my blog....

Posted by Helen Bryant ( 11:03 AM )
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Thursday May 04, 2006

Anti-BNP rally

I am so tired that I can't actually feel the lower half of my body. And considering I have spent the last 11 hours on my feet that is no exaggeration. But, bloody hell, today has been worth it.

Today [April 29th] was the day of our Love Music Hate Racism Rally in Trafalgar square. Its aim was to explain to people the threat that the BNP pose to our society and to encourage people not to vote for them in the up and coming elections as well as raising money for the cost of the even and future events. I also helped out at this event last year, my first ever event volunteering for LMHR.

The day began, rather traumatically, at 7am. Up bright and early, I met friends at 9, and we hopped onto the district line from Upney to Embankment and short walk from there to Trafalgar square for our stewards meeting at 10:30. (Although it wasn't quite as simple as this as a short excursion, which should have been 2 tube stops took 6! Grrr.. engineering works. ) So, slightly distressed, we arrived at Trafalgar Square 15 minutes late.

Soon after we arrived (and tried to stifle our excitement about the fact Belle and Sebastian were sound checking on stage!) we had a short meeting just to let everyone know what we would do in the event of an emergency, why the event was taking place and what we would all be doing. We were all put into groups depending how we were helping on the day – some were on stalls, some were helping backstage, some were stewarding, some were collecting donations. Our group as with last year (which included me, Frances, Leah, Kirsty a few of her friends from school (Mira, Kafiya, Miriam) our group leaders Pheobe and Jess as well as any random helpers who were about when we needed help!) were on the stalls! The next thing to do was set up our stall. This basically  meant carrying (dragging.. ) lots of boxes from the van to our stall and then from there to another place.. and another place.. and another place.. until they decided they were happy with were it was and then putting out all the Merch - T-shirts, badges and pamphlets - making it look pretty! We so won at this! All stalls paled in comparison to ours! =D Then all we had to do was wait about for everybody to start flooding in and have a laugh..

And it really is a laugh. . Even if it is hard work and you get tired after a while .. especially after 11 hours WITHOUT a chair.  All the people we work with are incredibly awesome. Being on a stall basically just involves selling people the merch, giving out information and talking to people  - especially all the randomers that come along who this year included funky dancing lady, two men dressed elvis style, and a town crier! In fact the only people who weren't at all friendly were one of bands who performed  - The Paddingtons. Everyone going in and out of the backstage area donated by throwing some change into our donations bucket as they went past but.. no.. They were too good for that! They just laughed at us and walked past! At which point Kafiya called them all anorexics and got given the finger. The lead singer even demanded that someone go find some gaffer tape for his shoe and expected her to put it on his shoe for him and then walked off when she refused! How rude huh? There are some even dodgier backstage stories about them but I wont tell them here.. All of the rest of the bands were ace though! We got to go off every now and again into the crowd to see whichever bands we wanted to see. The band of the day had to be the Metro riots. They were only on for about 10 minutes but their set was amazing. Their sound was so big it managed to fill the entire square and get everyone dancing. They've been ace every time I've seen them and they are incredibly nice guys too. Another high point band wise were Boy Kill Boy who invoked mass sing-alongs and Lethal Bizzle who even got the indie kids excited with his version of 22 Grand Job.

About half 6 we started packing up as everyone began to disappear into the crowd for the last band of the day – Belle and Sebastian. They were great! We didn't manage to get our whole group to the front so we moved away from the stage and danced around, our collection bucket in the middle, with anybody who decided to join us! Much fun! As soon as it was finished we conga lined back to to our stalls to serve the massive crowds which had left the stage and swamped us!

After another two hours or so of running about and getting whatever people wanted we finally started putting everything away until next year! And judging by the success and the amount of money we took this year (About 5 times the year before by my judgement!) we'll be able to put on something even bigger and better!  At last when we'd hugged everyone goodbye and almost everyone else had gone home we left Trafalgar square, at 9pm, exhausted, and much in need of some food! That way everybody – there's a Pizza hut!!!!!!

Posted by Carolynn ( 12:23 PM )
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Why volunteer?

There is such a thing as a selfless good deed. Whilst working as a Support Assistant with people with mental health needs after graduating I spent many a cold, dark Wednesday drinking milky Nescafe in a draughty café, where grease dripped from the walls and the old Italian owner scratched his bacon fat ridden crotch with his yellowy grey stained fist, watching the time creep further and further into my evening, listening to client tell me for the fourth time in 3 hours about her chronic depression and short time amnesia (not a good combination for a support worker to contend with, think about it). I garnered no virtuous sentiments. 

My current situation differs somewhat. I have, indeed, embarked upon a stint not just as a volunteer but, specifically, as an intern. What is this, exactly? An opportunity I, like so many graduates hankered after for career and learning opportunities, to attain skills and be given responsibilities? Or is an intern just a bit of polite rhetoric used when an office has a back log of photocopying and wants someone to do a three month tea run?

Actually, there is a pretty fair distribution of tea making around the press office of Shelter, the housing and homeless charity I where I will be working for the next three months. And I’ve hardly been near the photocopier.

Having told my wealthy friends (the money driven ones, who are happy to spend 8 hours a day auditing large company’s accounts in order to ensure that their pay packet exceeds 30k a year) that I would be working for no pay for 3 months, they were horrified. But, to be honest, a degree in English and Communications qualifies you for sod all. It furnishes you with the ability to read quickly and sporadically and talk nonsense with conviction.  A career in the media beckons.

And there are a variety of ways to furnish oneself with sufficient experience to become a press officer for a charity.  But learning from the inside, understanding the issues and campaigns, the structures and processes is, I believe, the best one. One Million children in Britain today grow up in housing that is in terrible condition, temporary or overcrowded. Three months of my life to help that cause whilst learning vital skills seems pretty fair to me. 

Posted by Rachael ( 12:12 PM )
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My charity

The Charity for which I volunteer, Love Music Hate Racism, are a charity who work to promote good community race relations and to campaign against and make people aware of the threat of fascist organisations such as the BNP. I often contribute to organised events such as gigs, carnivals and help to leaflet my local area and have been doing so since for around a year.

I kind of fell into volunterring really - I first became involved with Love Music Hate Racism when I heard that an artist who I am a fan of was performing in Trafalgar square as part of the yearly May Day rally in Trafalgar square. I, and a small group of friends decided we would attend and phoned up for more information but instead ended up offering our services for the day! We spent the day running around helping to set up, selling t-shirts and badges, handing out information and talking to the public and whatever else needed to be done! It was an incredibly rewarding experience and we have continued to help ever since.

I really get a lot of out what I do. My volunteering experience has given me a lot of opportunities, career wise – (It has given me contacts with quite a few people I may work with in the future) and has allowed me to do things I didn't think I would accomplish - all while helping a good cause. I've gained life skills, my confidence has increased greatly and I've met one of my idols as well as lots of other lovely people. I have a lot of fun as well as having something to put on my C.V for future employers to look at. I hope reading this blog will encourage you to find something you could do which would give you a similarly gratifying experience.

I plan to continue working for Love Music Hate Racism for as long as I can am currently looking forward to my second May Day Rally in Trafalgar square this Saturday.

Posted by Carolynn ( 11:59 AM )
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About me

My name is Rachael Orr, I am 22 and I have just moved to London from bonnie Scotland, where I grew up.

I spent 3 fantastic years at University in Liverpool, where I acquired a degree in English and Communications, a wealth of academic knowledge(!), and the ability to speak Scouse – always a unique and highly desirable party piece. 

Currently, I am working voluntarily through the day and in a theatre bar in the evenings so free time is a valuable commodity and seems to be wasted doing boring but necessary things like food shopping. When I'm working respectable hours I try to spend a good deal of time drinking and listening to live music, and telling myself that it isn't bad for me as I go running regularly.

I love the theatre but not the ticket prices; and believe the best possible way to spend a Saturday afternoon is going to Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh to watch Heart of Midlothian Football Club (who are currently on course for second place league finish, Champions League qualification and a Scottish Cup win).

 

Posted by Rachael ( 11:53 AM )
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Hello there

Well hello there! I’m Carolynn and I will be using this space to write about my experiences volunteering for the organisation Love Music Hate racism. I’m 16 and still at school, working towards taking my GCSE’s this summer, (A rather scary experience!). When I’m not working and revising hard(!) I can often be found exploring various areas of London, at a gig, or in my room listening to music and playing my guitar.

Posted by Carolynn ( 11:23 AM )
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