Longfield Community Hospice is seeking volunteers who can spare three hours a week to develop a new social circle and spend time doing something fun while developing new skills – and making a huge difference across Gloucestershire.
The charity is urgently seeking volunteers to help across all areas of the hospice in Minchinhampton, out and about in the community or in their charity shops.
There is a wide range of volunteering roles, from van driving and patient driving, enabling people to get to the hospice.
If shopping is your thing or you want to channel your inner Mary Portas, the 20 shops across the county need volunteers to help customers find that special purchase.
There are also roles at the hospice itself, supporting activities including cooking, gardening and painting. For anyone who is super organised or has a good eye for detail, the charity is also looking for volunteer administrators.
Longfield Community Hospice is a charity and relies on voluntary donations to provide the much-needed care and support to patients, their families and loved ones.
Head of Retail, Laura Owen emphasizes the crucial role volunteers play, stating that some shops struggle to open on certain days due to the shortage: “Our volunteers are a vital part of our shops, all ages and backgrounds get involved in helping customers, designing shop windows and making sure our stock is out on the floor and ready to buy.’’
Chrissie from Cirencester not only works in the Dyer Street shop but helps runs a fundraising group for Longfield: “It is a great way to make friends and be social. Everyone in the shop here are lovely and friendly. If you can just spare three hours a week, that’s all I do, that’s perfect.
“You’re helping people – I really like clothes, so I can go on the floor and help people find what they want. If somebody’s on their own, widowed, divorced, and need company, this is the perfect place. It’s rewarding, it’s fulfilling, and it’s good to feel useful. You meet lovely people from all walks of life, what makes me come back is the camaraderie between the team of people either at the shop or in our fundraising group.”
Richard volunteers at the Hospice for the Wellbeing Centre: “The reward for volunteering is in the volunteering itself. The participants of the two men’s groups I’ve helped with have come together, some as complete strangers, and formed instant bonds of camaraderie and friendship. They feel a sense of comfort and belonging in the safe space that Longfield provides, which enables them to share their feelings. It’s very refreshing knowing that I have helped to create that experience.”
Clare Davis, CEO, said: “I am humbled by how much our volunteers give to us, it is a special community to be a part of and I can’t thank everyone enough for giving their time, support, and skills to enable Longfield to deliver the essential services to the people who need us most.
“Volunteers are so important to every single part of Longfield, from our retail operation through to our care services and our fundraising. We need volunteers to help with services at the hospice from welcoming patients to activities, to helping provide homecooked meals to driving patients to and from the hospice. There are so many ways you can get involved.
“Every volunteer becomes part of the team at Longfield, knowing they are helping to make a difference to local people who need our help.”
If you’d like to volunteer with Longfield Hospice but are unsure which role would be the best fit, please get in touch to discuss the different opportunities in more detail.
You can apply online to become a volunteer here: www.longfield.org.uk/working-with-us/volunteering/
Find out more about your local hospice at www.longfield.org.uk.
Twitter: @longfieldcare
Facebook: @LongfieldHospice
Instagram: @longfield_care
