Health and social care is one of the largest volunteering sectors in the UK. This includes organisations like the NHS and charities which improve the wellbeing of people of all ages. So what do helpers actually get involved with? The opportunities are more diverse than we imagined as our bloggers reveal.

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Monday Apr 19, 2010

Cheese Sauce and Lots of Smiles

Another Thursday and another evening at Shelter from the Storm. This Thursday I helped out in the kitchen, helping to cook a hot meal for 45 guests.

This is a mammoth task and it isn't helped by the fact that we don't get much of a say about what food is available. A lot of the food is donated or is on special offer in the supermarket, so we really are on a budget! This week it was oven fish, you know, the kind you get in the freezer section in the supermarket. And to go with this we had mashed potatoes. Not a very appealing meal but it was made delicious with a  bit of imagination and a cheese sauce which went down so well we had a que for seconds!

Now im sure you don't want to hear about my culinary skills (although the cheese sauce was made by me and tasted amazing!) or the mountains of washing up we had to do afterwards. Something I decided to write about this week is the people ive met while volunteering.

It would probably sound a little cliché to say that ive made friends with some lovely people while volunteering and that it leaves me with a bit of a warm glow, but its true.

Its not just the guests that I have enjoyed talking too, although I do enjoy talking to them, it's the other volunteers too. When I started volunteering I have to be honest and say I had a pre conceived idea of what a fellow "volunteer" would be like. Older perhaps, not much of a life, after all who has time to give up an entire evening of their week? Someone with no life, I thought! (I know, ridiculous isn't it? Especially since I was volunteering!!!) I could not have been more wrong.

I have met people of all ages but mostly people the same age as me, with very similar interests. I even met a lovely girl called Tammy, who lives just round the corner from me in another part of London. Tammy is very funny – we share exactly the same sense of humour and laugh a lot when we volunteer together. I enjoy getting the bus home with Tammy and talking about boys, work and our week almost as much as actually volunteering. Varina is a lovely Austrian girl who is the same age as me and we often work together in the Kitchen. Varina makes me smile and amazes me with her ability to cope under pressure even when the rice doesn't cook properly! I would never have met Tammy, Varina or all the other lovely volunteers if weren't for Shelter from the Storm.

So if you are considering volunteering I recommend doing it and doing it as soon as possible. Not only will it give you the lovely feeling that you helping people less fortunate yourself, I guarantee a lot of laughter and a lot of lovely people just waiting to meet you!!

It even make washing up for two hours worth while......

Posted by Jenni ( 4:14 PM )
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Thursday Apr 08, 2010

Shelter from the storm

Hi

I'm Jenni, im a volunteer for Shelter from the Storm, a homeless charity in London.

So why do I volunteer at Shelter from the Storm? Well, it all started when I volunteered for Crisis over the Christmas period. I always knew homelessness was an issue, it didn't take much to work that out, I just had to take a stroll down my road to meet more than one Big Issue seller, or take a walk through Old Street station and you will meet 5 or 6 homeless people in the space of five hundred yards. But with a few weeks over Christmas with the prospect of not much more than eating turkey and staring at the TV I decided to put my time to use and volunteered for Crisis, at their dependency centre. This is the temporary shelter that the charity Shelter put up for homeless people with alcohol or drug dependency's for a few weeks every Christmas.

I'd never done any volunteering like this before. I met homeless people, helped them get warm clothes, a bed to sleep in and some warm food. Some people shared their life stories with me, others just sat and played scrabble. I found myself enjoying it and when Christmas was over and I'd waved goodbye to some new friends I thought I needed to do something that felt a little more permanent. Soon after I received an email from Crisis saying that an organisation called Shelter from the Storm was looking for volunteers.

I jumped at the chance of doing some similar voluntary work and signed up straight away. Within a week I had secured myself a regular Thursday shift and I realised just how different it was volunteering in a permanent shelter. The atmosphere is welcoming and calm, the guests and volunteers friendly and approachable. The shelter sleeps 45 guests each night apart from Friday night when it is closed.  The guests have a bed to sleep in for as long as they need it, and two cooked meals a day.

No drugs or alcohol can be consumed on the premises, so the atmosphere is slightly different to Dependency Centre, but just as enjoyable.

I help to cook dinner, wash up, fold clothes, play ping pong and listen to anything any of the guests would like to talk to me about.

During my time at SFTS I will be writing this blog, to talk about my experience volunteering for a homeless charity!

Keep an eye out for updates...

Posted by Jenni ( 9:33 AM )
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