Why Volunteer?

Volunteering is often described as ‘bringing out your best self’ - there is something inherent in the act of volunteering that helps us to be the best we can be. It can have a ripple effect of increasing motivation and self-worth in other areas of your life too and it is highly infectious and inspiring for others.

For the shop to remain open and offer the best service to inclusively meet everyone’s needs, a good team of volunteers is essential. Volunteering can be an incredibly positive, even empowering, experience. As a volunteer you will have the opportunity to:

Meet new people, make friends, and increase your support network

- Volunteering in a Community venture can help you meet new people who live in your Community. You can build new friendships and increase your local support network. The value of having friends or contacts locally who you can turn to for help, or for social needs is huge.

Work with existing friends

- Especially during lockdowns, it can be hard to meet up with friends but if you volunteer together you can spend time together and be working on a shared goal too!

Build your confidence

- Volunteering is known to increase your confidence, you’ll get support and join a team where you can enhance your skills, learn new ones and begin to feel more confident in the role and in different tasks.

Enhance your sense of well-being and purpose

- Being part of something, with other like-minded people, typically increases your sense of well-being; having the shared aim of keeping the shop going, serving the community and yourself, can give you a great sense of purpose and achievement.

Being involved in your Community

- Being involved in your Community offers you the opportunity to shape your community, it also opens up access to hear about, and be part of, other things going on in the community. Make your community yours, be part of it.

Learn new skills

- It’s not uncommon for people to be put off by thinking they can’t volunteer as they don’t have the skills or experience needed. Fear not, full training and support will be given and learning new skills is a positive thing, it can make us feel good about ourselves and can open up other opportunities, whether work related or social.

Learn to use your existing skills in a new situation

- You may think that because you’ve never worked in a shop or done deliveries before that you can’t help: You can! You likely have many transferable skills from other areas of your life; family, work or social. Be in touch and find out more.

Improve communication, organisation and time-keeping skills

- Working in the shop, on the shop floor or behind the scenes with collecting stock, administering orders, or doing deliveries will all develop these skills which are helpful in all areas of our lives.

Go to the ‘Work with us’ page to see more details about the volunteering role and do be in touch if you have any questions or comments. Thank you.