Sukkat Shalom Reform Synagogue

When we think of a volunteer, we may automatically conjure the vision of a middle-aged, middle-class woman serving tea or visiting someone less fortunate than themselves.

However, today volunteering is far away from this idea. Volunteering is a way of enhancing the work of an organisation, whether being hands on with its clients, fundraising, working alongside staff in head office or sitting on a consultative group.

Over the past 10 years we have also seen an increase in young people in our community getting their hands dirty by volunteering in far flung places or by taking up internships or work experience placements to get them their first taste of work.

At Jewish Care, we have been examining this relatively new phenomenon in volunteering and have started to find volunteering opportunities that draw on people’s skills and interests and ensure that the role they play is fulfilling for them and advantageous to us.

For this reason we feel we are in a good position to offer people in the community who have sadly lost their jobs or found themselves on shorter weeks with spare time an opportunity to retain their skills or learn new ones that will help them in their hunt for work.

Most people like to feel good in the morning, safe in the knowledge that they have a structure to their day. A Volunteering England report from September 2008 showed how volunteering is good for you. Its findings pointed out that ‘volunteering improved life expectancy and self-esteem and could help reduce depression, stress and pain.’

The National Youth Council in its report from July 2006 quotes one young woman saying, ‘I have learnt a lot about myself, made good friends and have gained a great sense of achievement.’

Volunteering is for all ages, talents and skills, and of course there is something in it for the organisation too. In the current economic climate it becomes harder to deliver services on ever tighter budgets. For many organisations such as Jewish Care, the need for services in this climate becomes even more intense. By using, developing and training skilled volunteers we are able to engage the community as well as safeguarding our vital services to the community. Over the past few months examples include recruiting bankers and accountants as volunteers into our finance team, developing our work experience policies using the skills of a college professional as well as training young people to handle reception in our homes.

We can offer work experience in care, social work, administration and marketing to name but a few areas and will, in return, fit in with your time schedule and understand that your commitment could be regular or short-lived.

In times like these members of the Jewish community can support each other, ensuring that volunteering is a win-win situation for us all.

Joanne Masters
Jewish Care’s Manager for volunteering

To find out more please contact Joanne on jmasters@jcare.org or phone the Volunteers Department on 020 8922 2405.