Give a little time!

Posted on January 27th, 2012

Recently it was announced that the Duchess of Cambridge will be volunteering with the Scouts in North Wales, near where she lives. She has made it clear she wants to ‘get her hands dirty’ with hands on help with Beaver Scout Colonies and Cub Scout Packs, and not ‘just come along and open things’. She’ll be doing things that any other volunteer would do. This hopefully will draw attention and encourage other potential volunteers to get their hands dirty too and indicate that even those with erratic schedules can find time to give something back to their community. The Scout Association has indicated that there is a role for all kinds of volunteering not just regular week after week running of meetings.

This hopefully will encourage even those with busy lives to find a small area that they can volunteer in – and also encourage groups and charities who need volunteers to be flexible themselves and accept whatever potential volunteers can offer. Groups and charities may need to alter the way they use volunteers to make sure that they make best use of the resource offered and value their volunteers.  The person, who spends an hour once a month, may later turn into a regular helper every week, should their circumstances change.

Workers at Avocet volunteer for the Scouts and a charity called Young Carers which supports children who have a family member with a long-term condition or terminal disease for which the child takes on some caring responsibilities. This all adds towards the ethos of Avocet being ‘child focused’. We enjoy giving our time to help children do something that they might not otherwise be able to and hopefully make small changes for the better in their lives. Children can mix with other children who have similar experiences and interests and perhaps make new friends from different areas and from different schools. Helping the children and seeing them enjoy themselves and watching them progress over the weeks and months certainly makes it worthwhile giving up some of your time.

The Duchess of Cambridge’s volunteering will hopefully inspire some people, who were wavering about helping and finding out that she has time may encourage them to take that step and volunteer themselves. Most groups could do with more adult helpers that would enable them to make a difference to more children’s lives.

So go on give it a go and try volunteering in 2012 – you’ll be glad that you did!

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