The dictionary describes a volunteer as “a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task or who works for an organisation without being paid, typically and especially in the community sector”.
Age Concern Gloucestershire defines a volunteer as “the most vital and valuable part of our organisation.”
Why should you volunteer?
- To gain experience for yourself or for your career
- To learn new skills
- To get involved with your local community
- A sense of personal achievement
- The enjoyment of working as part of a team
- A chance to meet new people, make new friends and gain confidence
- The rewarding feeling of helping someone achieve their potential
- The knowledge that you have made a real difference
- To give something back
- To feel that you are helping others
- The chance for you to use your individual talents and skills to benefit older people in your area
Our commitment to you…
- We will make you feel part of the organisation by inviting you to regular meetings and events
- You will receive regular newsletters and information on our latest volunteering opportunities
- Specific training to enable you to perform your role competently and with confidence
- To be supported fully at all times
- You will have the opportunity to influence our work
- To be paid out of pocket expenses
- To have the opportunity to develop and gain new skills
We are very lucky that we are well supported by volunteers - but we can never have enough!
It is a really exciting time to join our team of volunteers as we have lots of brand new projects to get involved with. Visiting somebody in their home, helping people in hospitals, lending a hand in day centres or supporting us with admin duties in the office in Gloucester are just a few of the opportunties. And, if you have skills in fundraising, event planning or IT we would love to hear from you! There are always lots of ways to get involved and support the work we do with older people in the county.
At Age Concern Gloucestershire we value our volunteers highly as without them our services would be hugely limited and in some cases completely impossible to deliver. In return we offer a sound volunteering programme which understands that volunteering is a two way process and allows and encourages our volunteers to develop and learn new skills.
Following a vigorous recruitment drive in the first half of 2009 Age Concern Gloucestershire has a full complement of volunteers and is not currently recruiting. It is envisaged that we will probably start needing people again in February or March - so watch this space!
