Mark recently spoke to us about his volunteering story with Deafblind UK and Learn to Love to Read. We spoke about his experience with volunteering and how he found using the Wandsworth Care Alliance Volunteering Wandsworth website.
Mark found the volunteer Wandsworth website in one of our newsletters. Later, he went back to the website looking for interesting volunteering opportunities. He found the website easy to use and was interested in face-to face volunteering and found he could easily navigate through the website to find what he was interested in doing in the local area.
He was first inspired to volunteer during lockdown, where he had more free time available. He also found inspiration from seeing his friend who has dementia, after seeing his isolation it made him think if he could just give some of his time back to someone it would make a difference even if it was an hour or so, it would be better than not doing it at all.
Him and his son carried out door to door volunteering activities during the COVID period and this led Mark wanting to do more. He realised that not many people know about support services available and he wanted to help, so people can find the support that’s out there for them.
Mark now volunteers with Deafblind UK where he does telephone befriending. He started speaking to two people and now has been speaking to one person for almost 3 and a half years. He also volunteers with Learn to Love to Read and does online reading sessions with them. He really enjoys it as it is also remote which means he can fit it into his day easily.
Mark noticed that doing online reading with children was interesting as he reads to children where English may not be their first language at home. He says it’s challenging but he enjoys it and says the charity provide him with so much fantastic support.
Mark says “giving an hour to a kid in a week where they normally wouldn’t be doing any other reading or wouldn’t be engaged in the thought of reading is great as watching the kids learn is amazing and seeing their progression each session in addition to the work in school they are doing is good to watch them grow.”
Mark described his experience with both charities as really great in terms of the way they made sure he was really supported in his volunteering and they were always available if he ever needed guidance, advice or tips.
Mark found both the charities supportive, flexible, and found they gave fantastic guidance for the volunteers. They made volunteers feel valued and appreciated by the work they are carrying out and it was nice.
We asked Mark “what encouragement would he give to somebody that’s never considered volunteering in the borough?”
Mark said: “I would say from my experience I would wholeheartedly recommend people getting involved even if they didn’t think that they can do much or spend much time on volunteering, that will be precious and valuable to not only the charity but whichever group of people or type of person they’re supporting, it ultimately adds up and makes a difference. If you as a person can lend your support even to a small degree, it will all add up and it’s going to be better than doing nothing.”
We asked Mark:
What are the three rewards you get from volunteering?
1. An opportunity to do something positive
2. Allows you to show compassion and care
3. Broaden your horizons and knowledge
Would you like to volunteer locally? Explore on Volunteering Wandsworth.