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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