Volunteering opportunities
Volunteering with Kent County Council
Services
Volunteers contribute to services
across Kent County Council and make a real difference to the
community. At any one time there are thousands of volunteers
working with our services. Find our more about volunteering with Kent County Council
services, the projects and the volunteering roles.
Volunteering with other
organisations
To give you an idea of the things that
volunteers do, the list below has been broken down into
categories with each category containing direct links to
named voluntary organisations. This will help you find out more
about particular organisations, the type of volunteering involved
and how volunteers help with their work.
The list is not exhaustive, as
there are thousands of voluntary organisations in Kent. You can
also contact your local volunteer
centre. to find out about the organisations in
your area.
Animals
Volunteering to work with animals can
include anything from simply transporting injured animals, to
looking after them at a specialised centre. You could be a
fundraiser for an animal rescue service or help with the
administration at a centre, undertake surveys or protect
vulnerable habitat. You could also work with animals to train
them to help others such as blind people.
Animal Rescue Services - The
major rescue services will be able to help find facilities for the
rarer animal types if they are unable to take rescued animals
themselves.
Riding for the Disabled
Puppy
Walking
Pat Dogs
Archiving and
Archaeology
This is not just for those
interested in history as a person with a good sense of organisation
or an eye for detail is a must when it comes to cataloguing and
preserving valuable documents. And although it may not be
your thing to scrabble about in muddy trenches, cleaning up the
artifacts and getting them ready for display is just as rewarding
as finding them.
Libraries / Time2Give
Canterbury Archaeological
Trust
Arts
Volunteering within the realms of the
Arts covers many areas and does not mean you have to be
artistic. As an example, dance and theatre groups need
drivers, chaperons, dressers, make-up artists, seamstresses,
lighting technicians, scene shifters, front of house staff
etc. Arts workshops need people to help get things ready for
sessions and may need help with children's groups or those less
able. Of course, if you have artistic talent the range of
ways you can get involved is as far a your imagination can take
you.
Theatres - Local venues can
usually be found on your local council website.
Margate Giant Association
Befriending
This can be as simple as visiting an
elderly neighbour, being part of a community drop in centre,
helping with a soup kitchen or making sure that homeless people are
as well as they can be in their circumstances.
Martha Trust
Strode Park Foundation
Caring on Romney Marsh
(CARM)
Porchlight
Counselling and
Advocacy
Many organisations provide training
for volunteers to enable them to help others who may be unable to
cope with the difficulties of life. Helping to fill in forms,
accompanying the person to meetings to ensure understanding of what
is being discussed, to being a listening ear to a person in
distress.
Citizens Advice Bureau
Samaritans
Advocacy
Committees
Committees are made up of a range of
activities such as: trustees, accountants, fundraisers, IT and
marketing managers. People from all walks of life with a wide
range of skills are needed to ensure an organisation is well run.
Take a look at the case studies of people who used their
professional skills to help voluntary organisations.
Contact
your local volunteer centre
Case
Studies
Driving
Volunteer drivers provide a valuable
service where other transport options are scarce or a door to door
service is required. People wanting to use the
service contact a local voluntary organisation offering the
service and pay towards the cost of the journey. Drivers are
recompensed at around 40-50 pence per mile for the journey to and
from the clients home.
Contact your local volunteer
centre
ATTEND – Hospital and
Community Friends
Emergency
Helpers
When there is a major emergency, have
you wondered who are all the people who help out behind the scenes,
dispensing blankets, providing tea and support or
using specialised skill? Well, they are volunteers from a
range of voluntary organisations and specialist activity clubs who
have been trained to take part in such situations.
Women's Institute
St John
Ambulance
Red Cross
4x4 Drivers Clubs
Mountain Rescue
Environment
Schemes
There are many different environmental
activities taking place across the county, from managing the
countryside and keeping footpaths open, maintaining existing or
creating new habitat to undertaking species surveys. A
love of the outdoors is a must as tasks can take place whatever the
weather. However there are also a range of indoor activities
in connection with the country parks where they hold events within
their centres, run a cafe or shop and even manning the
reception.
British Trust for Conservation
Volunteers (BTCV)
Countryside
Management Partnerships
Organise a
community clean up event
Public Rights of Way
Join the Clean
Kent Watch
Kent Wildlife
Trust
National Trust
Thanet Coast Project
Faith
Volunteers in faith
groups undertake a variety of activities within their
communities, running youth groups, fundraising and community
work. Group activities will vary according to the needs
of the community. Contact your local group for
information on the range of things they are involved with.
Local Religious Groups
Family Liaison
There are a range of schemes where
families can get together to talk about common difficulties and
help each other out. There are also specific organisations
whose volunteers provide individual support to families with
particular difficulties, helping with such things as finding out
about special educational needs, who can assist in liaising with
professionals and specialist agencies.
Children's
Centres
Partnership
with Parents
Home Start
Gardening
Many elderly people need a little help
keeping their gardens tidy. A volunteers with a few hours to
spare can not only spruce up a patch of green, but their work can
also lift the spirits of the garden owner and provide company for
someone who may not see people on a daily basis.
Contact
your local volunteer centre
Governance
This is the term given to the system
and processes concerned with ensuring the overall direction,
effectiveness, supervision and accountability of an
organisation. Basically those who make up 'the board' or
'trustees' make sure that everything concerned with the way a group
or organisation operate is done properly.
Pro Skills
Campaign
Heritage
Many of our 'national treasures' would
not be open to the public if not for the work of volunteers.
Go behind the scenes of many historic properties and you will find
an army of volunteers undertaking a vast range of tasks, including
cleaning and restoring artifacts to taking the public on guided
tours. There are also volunteers who take restoration back to
the 'nuts and bolts' rebuilding aeroplanes, trains and cars to name
just a few.
National Trust
Kent Windmills
Medway Aircraft Preservation
Society (Telephone: 01634
204492)
Council for the
Protection of Rural England
Holidays /
working
Not everyone has the time to volunteer
regularly but would like to make use of some of their spare time
and to do something more active and rewarding. Therefore
working holidays could be the answer. This does not
mean that you would be working non stop for several days.
Tasks are broken down into bitesize chunks and often the holiday
provider will include excursions to places of interest around the
local area.
National Trust
British Trust for Conservation
Volunteers (BTCV)
Justice
As you will see from the list below,
volunteering under the heading of justice covers a wide range of
activities. Most services require a volunteer to undertake
specific training to be able to undertake specific roles and
although at first this may seem daunting, volunteers are fully
supported.
Criminal Justice
System
(read
The Unusual Suspects - a guide to volunteering in the Criminal
Justice System)
Kent Appropriate Adult Service
Kent Independent Visitors Service
Magistrate
Referral Order
Service
Special
Constable
Victim Support Kent
Kent eVent Team - One-Off Events
The Kent eVent
team provide opportunities for volunteers to
take part in a range of one-off events in sport, leisure and
culture around Kent.
Literacy &
Numeracy
If you have a love of books or a knack
with figures, why not consider passing this on to others.
Helping people of any age get to grips with basic life skills can
be so rewarding and volunteers are able to help on a one to one
basis and spend more time on particular areas of difficulty.
Kent Adult Education /
Skills Plus
Libraries / Time2Give
Volunteer Reading Help
Media
Have you ever wondered who runs the
hospital radio station? Would you be surprised to hear this
is done by volunteers? Being the voice of the airways may not
appeal to everyone, but technicians are needed to keep the
equipment running, so are people to organise the music for the day
and deal with the requests from patients. So if you have an
interest in music, electronics or would like to help in any of the
other ways, why not contact your local hospital to find out how you
can get involved with their radio station.
Hospital Radio
Mentoring
A volunteer mentor must be able to
commit at least 2 hours per week and will need to undertake
training before being matched with a young person for a planned
period of time, which can be anything from 3 months to a
year. A mentor can make the world of difference to a young
person who may have had little or no family support, had
difficulties with education and have low esteem and self
confidence.
Mentoring and Befriending
Foundation
Catch 22 - formerly
Rainer
Music
How often do we hear music playing at
various events and occasions and don't give it a second thought? In
fact, many of the musicians are volunteers whose hobby is playing a
musical instrument or singing, and they do it because they enjoy
what they do. Sometimes their 'performances' raise money for
particular causes, ie the choir that raises the roof with their
singing may also be helping to fundraise to keep the same
roof watertight by performing at weddings for a fee.
There are also groups who entertain at homes for older people and
disabled groups.
Contact
your local volunteer centre
Sing for your Life
Bell ringers
Local Bands and Choirs
Older People
There are a range of organisations who
specifically look after the needs of older people. This can
be hands on, such as helping out at drop-in centres or being
involved in committees, forums or lobbying for better conditions
for the elderly.
Age
UK
WRVS
Overseas
Volunteering
There are a few holiday companies
which now combine volunteering activities with holidays abroad over
short periods. However, in the main volunteering abroad is
for several months at a time and may require that a person has
certain qualifications before they will be accepted on a
project. Also a volunteer may only get board and
lodging while abroad and have to pay their own travel costs.
Gap Year Volunteering
Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO)
Practical
Projects
These can be anything of a 'hands on'
nature including gardening, painting, community clean ups
etc. So if you don't mind rolling up your sleeves and getting
down to it there will be a number of community projects to get
involved in.
Contact
your local volunteer centre
School Governors
This committee is made up of
volunteers who come from all walks of life and form a very
important part of running a school. Working in partnership
with staff, they get to know the school through reading reports and
making visits, decide how the budget is spent and are able to make
decisions about the needs of the school
School
Governors information
Sport
Volunteers are vital to all aspects of
supporting sport and do anything from washing kit, sorting out the
fixtures, coaching, refereeing and pitch maintenance, to name just
a few.
Kent Sport
Sport England
Tourism
Have you got a passion for Kent and
enjoy meeting people from around the world? Then why not share your
enthusiasm with visitors to Kent and help make their stay all the
more memorable. Volunteer Greeters are provided with full
support and you can register any of your specific interests and
areas of expertise such as sport, local history, archaeology or
rural pursuits.
Kent Greeters
Youth Work
Volunteering in activities to work
with young people will be lively and interesting and may even help
to keep you young! There are many youth organisations and
projects that need volunteers from all walks of
life to bring a range of experiences. However,
to work with young people or vulnerable adults you will need to be
registered with the independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA)
and have a CRB (Criminal Record Bureau) check before you
start. Don't let this put you off as organisations are
set up to deal with the paperwork.
Guiding
Scouting - Read what volunteers think about volunteering with
the Scouts.
Duke of Edinburgh
Kent Community
Action Pilot
Young People
Many young people would like to
volunteer but find it difficult because of their age to find
suitable volunteering opportunities. Here are some
options where being young is a positive bonus. If you would
like to get involved or have a say in what happens in
your area, why not find out more about the following
opportunities.
Kent Youth
County Council
UK Youth Parliament
VSU in Kent
V Inspired