Here are all of our posts we published for volunteer week!
Day 1 - 1st June 2023
This week is volunteer week! Thought the week we will be making posts about the amazing work out volunteers do!
We have 19 volunteers at The Social Action Hub, who have different roles and responsibilities depending on the service they are volunteering for.
The Chatty Café : Making teas, coffees, juice and displaying confectionary items for customers. Providing them with a friendly presence and a welcoming atmosphere. Being a chatty café volunteer means being able to listen and spark up a conversation that might make someone’s day. The mission is to reduce isolation & loneliness by encouraging individuals to socialise and improve their mental health and wellbeing when coming into the chatty café.
The Social Supermarket : Store assistant volunteers support service users with their shop in The Social Supermarket, as well as being a friendly face to reduce the stigma of using a food club type service. Volunteers provide a welcoming presence to make customers look forward to coming in and to help break that stigma around using a food bank type service. Store collectors are the reason the food is in The Social Supermarket in the first place! Without them, we wouldn’t be able to support families & individuals with food poverty, financial struggles and preventing food waste. Store collectors travel around Rainworth, Blidworth, and surrounding areas from store to store, collecting donations and bringing them back to The Social Action Hub. As well as supporting the fight against food poverty, these donations are stopped from going to landfill and are a huge part of our mission to prevent food waste.
Youth Club/Playscheme : Assisting our youth work team during Youth Club or Playscheme sessions. Volunteers will join in the fun and participate in games, activities and crafts on the session plan. They will enhance their knowledge on working with children and children with SEND, as well as gaining new skills. Volunteers can learn about safeguarding responsibilities, the basic needs of children, and much more!
Day 2 - 2nd June 2023
We’d like to share some information about some of our volunteers and what they do outside of volunteering for us at The Social Action Hub.
Harry Rayment: Likes drawing anthropomorphic animal characters
Nicola Quimby: Enjoys going to festivals, mixing with different people, exploring the great outdoors and being happy in life as well as making others happy
Mary Frances: Loves travelling and going outdoors in her motor home. Likes walking and is crazy for dogs
Helen Black: Recently walked Hadrian’s walk – 84 miles from Bowness on Solway on the west coast to Newcastle on the east coast
Samantha Kirk: A manufacturing engineer by trade. She enjoys surfing when she gets the chance and is a treasurer for a charity ran pre-school
Sharron Pope: Busy nana and kinship carer to granddaughter Elissa, she takes her to horse riding every week as both Sharron and Elissa are horse mad! She loves to get together with friends for a walk and attends dance class which is great fun! Sharron owns a very crazy French bulldog who is the boss of the house. She loves volunteering and getting out to meet people #volunteerweek #volunteer #volunteerweek2023
Day 3 - 3rd June 2023
Our Store Collectors collect 50+ collections EVERY week! This works out as 2,600 collections in the past year. We have donations in Rainworth, Blidworth and surrounding areas from stores such as: Aldi, Lidl, M&S, Tesco, Co-op, Asda, Pets at home, Nando’s, Greggs, Sainsburys.
As well as collecting donations, our volunteers deliver emergency food parcels and do a befriending service with families & individuals who are struggling with food poverty, financial support and a variety of other issues. Our volunteers have delivered 46 emergency food parcels to families & individuals who are in need of support in the last year
The number of emergency food parcels have decreased greatly since 2021-2022, due to The Social Action Hub sign posting service users to The Social Supermarket and other food bank organisations to support with the demand. It is amazing that we have seen such a decline in the number of emergency food parcels needed, meaning our community has been supported over the past few years to get everyone back on their feet
Day 4 - 4th June 2023
Using the calculations from how many collections our volunteers have done in the past year (2,600), we estimate to have saved 81,900kg of food from going to landfill sites in the past year. That’s almost 82 tonnes! That’s more than the weight of 40 elephants!
Thanks to our volunteers, we are meeting our aim of preventing food waste going to landfill. It is astonishing the amount of end of date items we collect on a daily basis that are still consumable, that would of otherwise been going to landfill.
The food doesn’t stop at The Social Supermarket – we have animal food bins for any bread, pastries, fruit and vegetables that is no longer fit for human consumption, free to take for any local farm owners to feed to their animals such as Old Hall Farm, Wheelgate and White Post Farm.
Day 5 - 5th June 2023
We have calculated our Store Assistant Volunteers have collectively volunteered 1,144 hours in the past year in The Social Supermarket!
Additionally, our Store Collection Volunteers have contributed over 2,600 hours of driving and dropping off in the past year!
As a total, Team Foodshare Volunteers have contributed 3,744 hours of their spare time to get involved in our mission to tackle food poverty and prevent food waste, as well as tackling loneliness & isolation!
Since our closure of The Social Supermarket on Tuesdays, we have had a significant decrease in hours compared to 2021-2022 as well as the number of our volunteers decreasing due to other commitments and availability. Nevertheless, we believe this is still an amazing achievement for our current volunteers! Well done to you all, you show true passion and commitment to our cause, and we are eternally thankful
We are constantly recruiting new volunteers to try and increase our collections!
Day 6 - 6th June 2023
Benefits of volunteering – Every volunteer gets something different from their volunteering experience
Our volunteers come from a range of backgrounds and bring with them different skills and experiences. The Social Action Hub volunteers do a variety of roles but one thing they have in common is that they find volunteering enjoyable and rewarding.
Gaining new skills: Whether you’re studying, starting a career, looking for work or any reason, volunteering can be a great way to learn and develop the skills you need, both practically and personally. We’ll offer training where it’s needed and help you find all the resources and support you need.
Making new friends: Sometimes life changes & leaves us a little isolated. Maybe you’ve recently moved to a new area or you might just have lost touch with people as their circumstances change. Volunteering reconnects you with your community and helps create new friendships that keep loneliness at bay.
Mental and physical health and well-being: We know that keeping active, mentally as well as physically, has a powerful influence over our health and well-being. Our volunteers tell us the work they do has improved their mental health and sense of well-being, as well as most saying it’s improved their physical health.
Giving something back: Maybe you’ve benefited from volunteering services at some time in your life, or you’ve recently had first-hand experience of the support from The Social Supermarket volunteers. Perhaps you just feel like you’ve been fortunate, and you’d like to share that with others. Volunteering gives you that opportunity to ‘pay it forward’ or to give something back.
Improving your confidence: Sometimes life can knock your confidence, or Some people are just a little shy and want to improve their personal skills. Volunteering gives you a chance to find your feet in your own time and at your own pace, allowing you to build your confidence in a way that works for you. Every individual has their own reason for volunteering and their own ideas about what it will do for them. There’s no right or wrong approach, it’s all about exploring the opportunities on offer and finding the one you know is right for you. The most important thing about volunteering is that you should enjoy it on your own terms and that it's a rewarding experience for you, as well as for the people you help.
Day 7 - 7th June 2023
We have a variety of volunteering opportunities available at The Social Action Hub, all with different roles and responsibilities!
Sign up to be a Chatty Café volunteer
Chatty Cafe will be open on Thursdays during term time 10am-12pm
Volunteer roles: Set up Cafe tables, Serve customers with refreshments (teas, coffees, juice, snacks), Keep areas clean & tidy, Greet customers and have a chat with them if they'd like, Set up/display cafe items
We require volunteers to have WhatsApp, as this is our main source of communication. We will need a DBS and a Food Hygiene Certificate. If you do not have these, we can provide them for you.
Collecting surplus donations from stores in Rainworth, Blidworth and surrounding areas. Preferably on a regular occurrence on a certain day and time, with the occasional one off collection. Collections are available every day.
You may be asked to deliver Emergency Food Parcels to individuals/families in need.
We require volunteers to have WhatsApp, as this is our main source of communication. We will need a DBS and a Food Hygiene Certificate. If you do not have these, we can provide them for you.
The Social Supermarket opening hours are: Monday 10am-2pm, Wednesday 4pm-7pm and Thursday 10am-2pm
Helping out in The Social Supermarket. Roles/duties may include: Unpacking deliveries, Greeting customers, Tidying the store, Stocking shelves, Assisting shoppers and answering queries, Being 'on the door' to maintain the amount of customers in the store at once.
We require volunteers to have WhatsApp, as this is our main source of communication. We will need a DBS and a Food Hygiene Certificate. If you do not have these, we can provide them for you.
Youth Club/Playscheme : We have young people completing their Duke of Edinburgh award and work experience who volunteer in our Youth Club & Playscheme sessions as well as The Social Supermarket. They assist our youth work team during Youth Club or Playscheme sessions and join in the fun and participate in games, activities and crafts on the session plan. They will enhance their knowledge on working with children and children with SEND, as well as gaining new skills. Volunteers can learn about safeguarding responsibilities, the basic needs of children, and much more!
To access this sector of volunteering, please speak to a member of staff via email: info@socialactionhub.com or phone: 01623 490498.
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