It is Volunteers Week and BritMums wondered what type of voluntary activity parent bloggers were involved in at home and abroad. We know many bloggers are involved in our Charity Connections – Blogging It Forward group and help to raise awareness of charitable services and campaigns for free. However, we suspected our kind-hearted members might be involved in giving their time and skills to good causes in other ways and it appears we were right.
- Elaine from Little Sheep Learning is the Regional Coordinator for NCT in the West Midlands. She supports all the branch volunteers and represents them at various meetings and produces the newsletter. http://www.littlesheep-learning.co.uk/blog/
- Sian has just returned from a voluntary trip to Niger to raise awareness of the food crisis there for the charity World Vision. BritMums encourage you to read this post http://www.geekisnewchic.com/2012/05/shareniger-tale-of-two-women.html
- Sarah Lee volunteers for HomeStart supporting two families visiting them in their own home offering friendship and support. http://thisisme-sarahmumof3.blogspot.com
- CraftyCreative helps out at school with talks, a better reading partnership and the Parent Teachers Association. She has other volunteering experience including arranging publicity for an Eco event. http://fromrattopostiveparent.blogspot.com
- Kate Buckley is a breastfeeding peer supporter so attends groups and the hospital ward every week to give mums advice and the time which midwives may not have to get them off to a good start with feeding their baby. http://
lifeloveandlivingwithboys. wordpress.com - Kate On Thin Ice volunteers as a Trustee for a local community centre. Tasks involve attending monthly meetings and looking at building management, funding and staffing issues. http://kateonthinice.wordpress.com
- Expat Mum pointed out that lots of volunteering goes on in the USA. From the UK perspective, she shows us how diverse volunteering can be telling us her mother dresses as a Victorian shopkeeper and talks about the Co-op at Beamish Museum. http://expatmum.blogspot.co.uk/
- Transatlantic Blonde sits on the Board of Directors for Glasgow Women’s Aid. They meet months looking at how best to deliver services to women and children affected by domestic violence including fundraising and communication issues. http://transatlanticblonde.blogspot.co.uk/
- Stephanie tells us how she volunteers as a Guide Leader. For the last 3 years she has spent 2 hours a week with 24 girls aged between 10 and 14 years. She tells us what she gets out of volunteering here http://suburbansuperwoman.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/volunteering-its-two-way-street.html
- Mary volunteers for the Royal British Legion as a welfare case worker. Basically when someone applies to the poppy fund for assistance it’s my role to go and visit them and assist in the completion of the relevant paperwork so that the County Welfare Officer can make a decision on if and how they can be helped. http://keynko.
wordpress.com/2012/05/25/a- worthwhile-use-of-my-spare- time/
Inspired? Fancy volunteering yourself?
Check out http://www.do-it.org.uk/ which lets you search for the type of volunteering activity you would like to do in the area you would like to do it.
Volunteers Week is explained here http://www.volunteering.org.uk/aboutus/events/2152-volunteers-week-2012
Don’t forget to join our Charity Connections – Blogging It Forward group if you are interested in how good causes.
Thank you to volunteers everywhere and Happy Volunteers’ Week!
About Kate Davis-Holmes
Kate Davis-Holmes is a writer and blogger. She is married with 3 children. After obtaining a law degree from Cambridge University, Kate spent 20 years working in local and national organisations. She has experience of project management. media relations, events organisation, advice-giving and the facilitation of learning groups. Kate’s interests include bargain-hunting, reading, travelling and cookery. She has a passion for helping good causes and seeing women get a fairer deal in society.
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If anyone would like more information about the work Glasgow Women’s Aid does with women and children affected by domestic violence or about domestic violence issues in the UK please follow @GWA1973 on Twitter!
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