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VOLUNTEER

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Who can volunteer?

  • All adults are welcome to apply regardless of age, gender, race, nationality or ethnic origin, religion, disability or sexual orientation.

  • For insurance and safeguarding reasons, we are unable to accept volunteers under the age of 18 while Christmas Care is running.

  • For young volunteers, we need to be confident that they have the skills and maturity to be able to cope with any challenging issues that arise.

 

Volunteers' Personal Data

Please read our privacy policy to learn how we use your personal data, in line with current legislation requirements.

The details currently shown on this page were for our 2023 project.  We will be updating the text as our 2024 project is finalised.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of the project and the key to providing a warm, safe and welcoming environment for the homeless, vulnerable and lonely over Christmas.  They are organised into shift teams, each with a Shift Leader.  

  • There are two types of shift team: general teams and those who work in the kitchen.  Volunteers can do more than one shift, but not consecutively.

  • In 2023, we are offering a day-time café-style service, running 9:00am - 5:30pm each day for guests.  General & kitchen volunteer shifts will both be 3 or 3.5 hours long, starting at 8:30am and running through potentially to 6pm.  

How can you volunteer for Christmas Care 2023?

  • Our volunteer application process has now closed.

  • Our team will be working on the shift rotas, for both kitchen and general volunteers, over the next couple of weeks.  We aim to get this done as quickly as we can, but it can be a bit of a jigsaw puzzle, so is not instant! 

  • We will be contacting all volunteers about their shifts just as soon as we have completed the process.

Covid precautions:  Currently, we do not know if any Covid precautions may be necessary.  In the recent past, we have asked  volunteers to be fully vaccinated against Covid.  We will be assessing what, if any, measures need to be put in place for 2023.

Do volunteers need to have particular skills?

Neither type of volunteer needs to have any specific formal skills. 

  • General volunteers need to be good team players, willing to help with anything that's needed, empathetic with our guests and mindful of the issues that can arise.  If you have any previous experience which demonstrates these qualities, please include details on your application form.

  • Kitchen volunteers need to be comfortable preparing and cooking homemade food, able to operate safely in a busy shared kitchen space and work as a team.  We do also welcome volunteers with formal commercial catering / food hygiene skills/experience.  

 

We do also appreciate volunteers with first aid skills and experience in relevant areas of counselling and social work.  

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