Volunteer Telford

Local homelessness organisations Stay, Maninplace, Kip and YMCA are seeking passionate and caring people to help fundraise in order to raise vital funds for their work supporting homeless and vulnerable people in the area.

We need help with fundraising events already set up, arranging new fundraising events and encouraging others to fundraise to help Telford's homeless.

There is no set requirement regarding the amount of time it is simply as much time as you are able to give. No previous experience required.

So if you have a passion for helping homeless and vulnerable people then please get in touch and help us to support people to change their lives and leave homelessness behind forever.

Our weekly day centres in Telford take place in local community venues and provide transport, activities, a two course hot lunch and friendship for local older people. They are all run by volunteers with the support of an Age UK Coordinator.

We are looking for volunteers to join our existing teams to help set up the room, greet members with a warm welcome, prepare and serve refreshments, wash up and help with a range of social activities and tidy up at the end of day.  

In this role, you will be providing a puppy with a vital foundation for its future role as a guide dog. This is a full-time volunteering opportunity as a puppy will live with you in your home for around 12-16 months.

What you’ll be doing

We rely on volunteers like you to help us improve the lives of people with sight loss. In this role your support will include:

- Following Guide Dogs Puppy Raising for Excellent Partnerships (PREP) programme, to raise and prepare a puppy to become a guide dog.

- Using our guidelines to care for your puppy e.g., providing sufficient exercise.

- Familiarising a puppy to a wide range of environments.

- Teaching a puppy to be alone by gradually building up from a few minutes to a maximum of 4 hours.

- Attending regular puppy classes.

- Meeting regularly with Guide Dogs representatives to discuss your pup’s development.

- Completing regular on-line questionnaires to help us monitor puppy progress.

You’ll get

Volunteering is a two-way street, so in return for your time you will get a dedicated volunteer manager/key contact who will help you settle in and support you during your time with us. You’ll also get:

- The satisfaction in knowing you are supporting people with sight loss to live actively, independently, and well.

- The challenge and reward of seeing a puppy develop in your home.

- The opportunity to learn and develop your understanding in dog body language, learning theory, the human animal bond and the life of a guide dog.

Training and support

This role has 13 hours of training and then you’ll be ready to go! These modules include:

- Our bespoke Puppy Raising for Excellent Partnerships (PREP) training to support you at every stage of the puppy’s development.

- Ongoing training both virtually and face to face as part of the role.

If you have questions about the training requirements, we can answer these at your interview along with any other support or accessibility needs you may have.

Volunteering for Guide Dogs should never leave you out of pocket. We’ll make sure we pay any expenses related to your volunteering with us in line with our policy.

Volunteer responsibilities:

Help to collect, sort and organise items for our swaps and give-away events, such as clothes, books, DVDs and household goods.

Assist in setting up and maintaining our Library of Things.

Engage with members of the public visiting our hub and help to spread our message of sustainable living by encouraging re-use, repurpose and recycling of items and reducing buying new items.

Other straightforward housekeeping tasks as required.

Time Commitment and location:

Initially the volunteer would be needed on one or two days per month, usually a Saturday, to help at our swaps and giveaways. These take place at different community centres around Telford.

We can help by offering transport if that would be a problem.

They would also be invited to attend our regular zoom meetings which take place fortnightly on a Monday evening at 7:30 pm. The time commitment would increase when we have secured a permanent base for our Hub. This will be in Wellington.

We are part of the national network of Climate Emergency Centres and one of the first to be set up.

Our team of trustees are knowledgeable and enthusiastic, ready to support the volunteer in helping to spread our message.

The volunteer will report to our trustees.

They will not be responsible for any other team members.

Initial training will include: Background and Aims of our organisation; a tour of the premises; Volunteer role description and agreement; how to use any relevant equipment; who's who and what they do; health and safety information; problem solving procedures; who will help and supervise them.

No prior training is required.

As the role develops we may offer training and education in various aspects of sustainable living and other basic training such as Health and Safety.

A DBS check will not be required as the volunteer will be working under close supervision of our trustees.

The volunteers experience will be monitored and evaluated by informal briefing and de-briefing sessions.