Volunteering at St Sidwell's
There are many volunteering opportunities at the St Sidwell's Centre. St Sidwell's could not function without the
support of its volunteers. With only a small team and plenty of activity at the centre there is always something to do.
The roles on offer are wide and varied. In some positions you can volunteer for as little as 2 hours per week, but some roles require more
commitment and skills.
St Sidwell's Centre will wherever possible provide training and assist in personal development for our volunteers.
For example: our café volunteers receive Food & Hygiene training and in-house training and some have First Aid certificates.
Our Caretaker's Helpers have the option of heavy lifting and Health and Safety courses.
So far over 25 volunteers have found employment and we would like to think we helped them on their quest.
Many other volunteers have moved onto more long-term voluntary placements.
St. Sidwells Centre would be completely unable to function if it wasn't for the input of our remarkable team of committed volunteers.
There are about 30 people involved in one way or another at the Centre, helping in all aspects of everything we do. Most take on specific role like working in the Café, the Reception or the Garden, other are doing odd jobs by helping the Caretaker.
Who volunteers at St. Sidwells Centre?
The answer is: anyone and everyone. The oldest volunteer is 85, our youngest was 15.
Some have disabilities,
some like doing something different from their main job, some are recovering from a period of illness.
They are men and women. We have had speakers of around 11 different first languages (including English) in our team,
others travel a little to get here. So we are big and diverse family.
Why do they do it?
Ask any of them and you will get a slightly different answer, but there is a common thread: they all enjoy the feeling of being part of the Centre and feeling that they are making a big contribution to the Community.
Many of our volunteers have been involved with the Centre for many years.
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Cafe Volunteers:
We are looking for dedicated volunteers to join our Project on the Community Café at St. Sidwell's Centre.
The Café was awarded with the Queens Award for Voluntary Service in 2008, recognising St. Sidwell's volunteers as "Unsung Heroes".
Our Café is now open 6 days a week: Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 4.30pm and Saturday 9.30am to 2 pm.
We are recruiting more volunteers to assist our Community Café project and to help the local community. Our café is led by Professional Chef who will train you and
teach you how to prepare and cook food on a professional level. You will also be able to communicate with customers and being part of our friendly volunteer family.
Here are some of the tasks you will be required to do:
Setting up, preparing food alongside with a professional chef, serving customers, handling cash, clearing tables, operating the dishwasher, clearing up and closing up at the end of the day.
If this sounds attracting to you these are the positions you could apply for:
- - Kitchen Assistant
- - Kitchen Porter
- - Till operator and hot and cold drinks maker
- - Front of House
We are looking forward to hear from you!
Reception Volunteers:
Reception Volunteers are often the first people that visitors meet when they come into the Centre.
Reception Volunteers meet and greet the public, help the internet users, photocopying, cash handling, processing membership applications, keeping notice boards up to date and generally supporting the work of the administrator.
If you are interested in applying for this you will need to be: outgoing and friendly, comfortable with using computers and have some basic admin skills and experience.
Admin Volunteers:
We sometimes need people with admin experience to help in our busy office.
Admin volunteers would help with various tasks including record keeping, data inputting, answering the phone, typing archiving,
helping with the newsletters and preparing leaflets, archiving, photocopying filing etc.
It helps if you have good computer or/and keyboard skills and plenty of experience of working in an office environment.
Caretaker Helpers:
This post is for Volunteers who help with practical tasks that need doing around the place,
such as preparing rooms for groups, keeping notice boards up to date, fixing things, running errands, helping with recycling,
general troubleshooting etc. You need to be fairly fit for this role which includes light lifting.
Good practical skills are a big advantage.
Garden Volunteers:
We need Garden Volunteers to look after the grounds of the Centre and also tend our community garden.
We are looking for dedicated and preferably experienced gardeners to help us maintain our community garden
together with support our community café project by growing and supplying the café with fresh vegetables
and salads. This also will involve maintaining the flowerbeds, clear weeds and tidy the beds and paths,
looking after the wildlife ponds, prone trees etc. For this role you have to be fairly fit, like working
outside and ability to work under your own initiative.
Fundraising Opportunities:
As a small charity organisation which serves the local community we always need volunteers and
supporters to help St. Sidwells Centre with fundraising ideas and events.
If you would like to be part of events such as cake sales, jumble sales, quiz nights and raffles etc.
we would like to hear from you.
Hikmat:
The Hikmat (Wisdom) Social Contact
Centre is a Black Minority Ethnic elders project
which is run by the Olive Tree Association.
The drop in day centre is open on Tuesday for the
Chinese elders and Thursday for the Muslim elders.
The day centre is open to older people in and around
the Exeter area who are black, Asian or from an
ethnic minority.
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