Volunteering In Wales
WORDS: Rhiannon Heale /
You may have carried out a voluntary work placement at school, college, university, or in your spare time, or you might not have had the opportunity.
Whatever your circumstances, volunteer work can be a really positive experience.
It can develop your skills and knowledge in a particular area, improve your confidence, help you to meet people and make new friends and improve your education and career prospects.
You'll also be using your time and skills to help others who might really need it.
The first step to finding a placement is to decide where your interests lie. Perhaps you could make a list of your hobbies. The likelihood is that you'll find a placement to suit your requirements.
There are dozens of areas that you can choose from. You might enjoy sport or looking after animals. You might be a good listener and want to put your skills to use. You might be interested in campaigning or charity work or working with the elderly. You can even volunteer abroad. The list is endless.
I am a creative writing student. My interests lie in reading and writing. I also enjoy working with children. I combine my interests and volunteer at a local primary school once a week where I help the children with their reading and writing skills.
I find great fulfilment in seeing the difference I'm making to the children's development and I'm happy because it's something that I enjoy doing. I can add the experience to my CV and when the time comes for me to look for a job it is likely that my placement will impress potential employers and boost my career prospects.
Often people lead busy lives and cannot commit to regular placements. If you are in this position but would still like to volunteer there are opportunities for you too. Lots of charities hold one-off fundraising events and they are usually on the weekends. They may need volunteers to carry collection boxes for a couple of hours.
If you enjoy writing, you might consider writing articles for theSprout. You can do this from home and upload them onto the site. By writing articles you will be practicing and improving your literacy. You can write about things that matter to you and bring them to the attention of others via the site.
If you have an idea of where you would like to carry out a placement you might want to approach the organisation yourself. But if you need any assistance there is a Volunteer Community Service office on St Mary's Street in Cardiff. They cover over 40 areas of interest including conservation, befriending, hospitals and hospices, practical and DIY, youth work and advice lines.
The advisors there have all been volunteers themselves and say it is their duty to support volunteers so that voluntary work proves a happy and rewarding experience for those engaged in it.
Most of their positions are for those over 16 but if you are under 16 it is still worth talking to the advisors. Most organisations can modify the position to suit somebody younger. They might ask for your parents to sign a consent form for example, and they might need to consult their insurance provider to make sure that those under 16 are covered.
Most organisations will pay any costs you incur such as transport and meal expenses.
The Voluntary Community Service office is open Monday to Friday between 10am and 4pm (the last admission is at 3.15pm). If you are unable to make it into the office, an Outreach Worker can visit you at home or at another place convenient to you.
More information on volunteering and the Volunteer Community Service here. TheSprout's Volunteering Directory is here.
