Case Studies
- Nigel presenting on Volunteering to a group of students
Nigel Cram – Youth and Gwirvol Volunteering Development Officer
My role consists primarily of two things. Firstly encouraging young people to volunteer and secondly to look to develop volunteering opportunities with local organisations and charities.
From my own personal experience I am well aware of the importance of volunteering. Three years ago I left my position as a manager in retail to spend two months as a volunteer football coach and teacher in Kenya. This experience made me realise I definitely didn’t want a career in retail and would much prefer to get involved in something where I felt I was helping others.
Since then I have undertaken a number of volunteering placements along with working in retail to pay my bills! My placements included: being a football coach at a local primary school, volunteering at a day centre with adults with learning disabilities, taking a young person out once a week as part of the Social Services befriending scheme, being an independent visitor at Hillside Secure Centre and more recently being a panel member for the youth offending team.
These experiences have vastly improved my confidence, helped me learn new skills and develop the ones I already had. All of this experience along with my academic qualifications has allowed me to get a job I really enjoy doing.
Amy Sherwood
My name is Amy Sherwood. My voluntary work has been with the Girlguides, as a young leader. My role there involves assisting in weekly rainbow and guide meetings. I became a young leader because I wanted to continue working within the scheme and try to help young people, after being a member of the guide association for a number of years. I believe being a young leader has helped me build my confidence and taught me how to work with children of all ages and abilities.
Miriam Page
I am a trainee young leader with the girlguides who help girls and young women develop emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually so that they can make a positive contribution to their community and the wider world. My role is to help younger girls enjoy the challenges of guiding with activities involving crafts, games and the completion of badges.
I became involved as part of my Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award and I was also a rainbow when I was younger. Being a young leader has helped me improve my confidence a great deal and learn about various things including child development. Volunteering is an excellent way to make new friends and help others while also developing individually. I found it very easy to get involved as there are lots of local groups looking for volunteers.
Katie Jordan
STRIDES employment, houses organisations such as Want 2 Work and Shaw Trust, helping people gain employment. My role as a volunteer is to meet and greet members of the public as they arrive, direct them to their appointment, along with other reception duties. I actually became involved with STRIDES through a work experience placement as part of a business admin course and they then asked me to carry on as a volunteer.
Since volunteering my confidence has improved and I have learnt and developed a number of skills. Another benefit has been I have met a number of people I would now regard as friends and now really feel a part of something.
I would recommend volunteering as an excellent way of feeling like you’re giving something back to others while also feeling a part of something yourself.
