Volunteers needed

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No matter what interests you have, there are many ways that you can support Quaker Service. We always need volunteers to help in our charity shop, befrienders to help people in prison, or even gardeners for our allotment. There could be many skills that you possess that would be useful to a modern charity – these could be graphic design skills, jam-making, craft-making, befriending, building maintenance skills, driving, data management, app development, cleaning, cooking, and so on. 

 

Volunteering is beneficial to the volunteer for meeting new people, having new experiences, and sustaining a sense of purpose. Volunteers help our charity stay relevant, in touch with communities, they help us to help the communities we serve, they help us to build community together.

 

We very much value the support of volunteers and offer appropriate training, out of pocket expenses, networking opportunities and occasions to meet and eat together.

 

We currently have Volunteer Opportunities in the following areas. If you know anybody else that also might be interested, please have a chat with them about these opportunities on our behalf.

 

Thank you very much.

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Volunteers Supporting People in and Leaving Prison

 

Befriending Volunteers

Quaker Connections befriending volunteers visit people in prison who have few or no visitors they provide a friendly listening ear. These visits can be in p-person or via Zoom. The programme is volunteer led with a staff coordinator, Kate Russell and works primarily with men in the care of HMPs Maghaberry & Magilligan, though we will be extending the programme in Hydebank Wood College. The befriending programme also supports men at risk within the prisons, provides meaningful human contact to men in the Care and Supervision Units, and supports drop-in programmes and peer led education programmes. 

 

Full training will be given. If you are interested in becoming a befriender please contact Kate Russell by emailing Kate.Russell@quakerservice.com 

 

Circles of Support Volunteers

The charity also supports men returning to the community after long spells in prison. These volunteers work in small groups in their own communities building a volunteer circle of support with the man, meeting with him weekly to support him in rebuilding his life and making interventions with other agencies to assist in resettlement. It may be that you can help a returning prisoner learn to cook, or manage his finances, or help him navigate benefits systems and community services, or perhaps you just have a pet dog and he can walk your dog with you – there are numerous ways to help people from returning to prison. 

 

Full training will be given. If you are interested in becoming a befriender please contact Kate Russell by emailing Kate.Russell@quakerservice.com  

 

Shop Volunteers

 

Charity Shop Volunteers

Whether you prefer to work behind the scenes or in a customer-facing role, there are plenty of tasks for you to get involved with. You might be using the shop's guidelines to sort and price donated clothes, books, homewares etc…or receiving donations from the public and grading and preparing them, providing customer service on the shop floor, creating attractive displays in the shop, steaming clothes, uploading items onto our eBay store, arranging window-displays, helping us plan sales and so on. We always need more shop volunteers and are happy to work around your availability. 

 

Full training will be given. If you are interested in becoming a shop volunteer please contact John-Henry Parker by emailing John.Parker@quakerservice.com

 

Drivers

 

We are collating a list of potential drivers with a D1 category on their driving licence (criteria to drive a 9-seater minibus). We need a small number of drivers for seasonal service as well as helping us get out vehicles to and from the mechanic and MOT centres. If this is something you think you might be able to help us with occasionally, please contact us by emailing info@quakerservice.com