Volunteers’ Week 2017 

By Aimee Winkfield.

An introduction to volunteering workshop was delivered recently by OCVA/ Oxfordshire volunteer centre at Rose Hill Community centre.

The session was the second of three workshops held across Oxford, including Barton and the City centre. The workshop run by Emily Shaw explored what volunteering consists of, the potential barriers people face when thinking about volunteering and the benefits volunteering can have on the person themselves, the community and the charity/organisation.

Seven people turned up to the session to get information on a range of volunteering opportunities they were interested in, including finance, drama, developing English or simply opportunities to socialize with others.

Annie from Home-Start Oxford also came to the session to introduce the organisation and the benefits they could get from volunteering for them. Home-start work with families with at least one child under 5, offering a befriending service and a practical service for vulnerable families. Training is provided for those who want to get involved in helping families in multiple ways. It should also be noted that Home-start are looking for volunteers who are parents, grandparents or carers themselves.

One of the main barriers that deters those from volunteering is time or family commitments, but the beauty of volunteering is its flexible nature, often suited around the person who wants to donate their skills and time.

Top tips offered by Emily:

• Look for gaps, perhaps weekends where you can spare a few hours volunteering.
• Look at opportunities where the whole family can volunteer if childcare commitments are a problem.
• Ask your employer if they can help you connect with a voluntary organization.
• Set yourself goals and what you want to achieve volunteering- what will suit you best?
• Bring a friend, volunteering with a friend may make the prospect less scary.
• Do something you love, or even enjoy doing as a hobby.

As well as the numerous skills gained and nurtured through volunteering, social connections with others and those in the communities you volunteer in can be very rewarding, and could even lead to a paid job if you meet the right people down the line.

For more information please email: vol@ocva.org.uk/ 01865251946 

Once again, if you’re interested in volunteering for Rose Hill News, where you can either write articles for the newspaper or online, take photographs and/or videos or simply help with marketing then please email: aimee-rosehillnews@hotmail.com. Volunteering with us is very flexible and we can work around you, it is not demanding and extremely enjoyable and creative.