The importance of volunteers

Volunteers are the backbone of our organisation and make a huge contribution to the provision of our services.

Long Service Awards

Congratulations to John Richardson and Ghislaine Shelley who have both received Long Service awards for 10 years volunteering with Age Concern Harrow.

What our volunteers do

Volunteers are involved in all aspects of our work. Our volunteers help with:

Staffing our reception desk.
Assisting with general office duties.
Helping at our lunch and leisure clubs.
Supporting clients by providing information, advice and advocacy.
Providing a Small Tasks Service.
Visiting clients at home or escorting them on shopping trips.
Assisting with our Customer Satisfaction survey.
Assisting with fundraising collections.

What we can offer you

We will provide you with:

Full training.
On-going support to develop your skills.
Out of pocket expenses.

Volunteering with us will also provide you with the opportunity to:

Do something that will make a difference to the lives of older people in Harrow.
Gain valuable work experience.
Widen your experience.
Share your skills.
Meet new people.

Our requirements

We are not looking for any special experience and you do not need any formal paper qualifications to be a volunteer. We believe that your life experience and interests are qualifications in themselves. It's your time, commitment and reliability that count. You can give as much or as little time as you want - during weekdays, evenings or weekends.

We do however require two references from you, to protect our clients and ourselves. We will also obtain police checks from the Criminal Records Bureau. All volunteers are also required to attend an induction session. It is a chance to meet other new volunteers and get an overview of the organisation and all its other projects as well as learning about Age Concern Harrow policies.

Age Concern Harrow is an Equal Opportunities organisation and welcomes volunteers regardless of their age, race, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, nationality, national origin or disability.

How to apply

To become a volunteer you will need to fill in an application form which you can obtain from the Volunteer Co-ordinator.

We need more volunteers for our expanding Shopping Scheme

If you have a couple of hours a week to spare and would like to help older people do their shopping we would like to hear from you. Volunteers either collect a list from the client or more often escort a client who has difficulty doing their shopping unaided. You will become part of a team of friendly volunteers and have the satisfaction of helping to enhance independence and choice for older people.

For more information contact Lena Hanen on 020 8861 7997 or email: LHanen@acharrow.org.uk

Chairmobility Project - Volunteers needed

The Chairmobility Project volunteers teach chair-based exercises to older people who have had or are at risk of falls.

Volunteers receive full training from a qualified Occupational Therapist and the project involves visiting clients in their own homes once a week for 10 weeks and going through the exercise programme with them on a one-to-one basis. Travel expenses can be claimed.

If you are interetsted please call on the number given below.

Healthy Eating Project - Volunteers needed

The Healthy Eating Project will be funded from 1st April 2010 for one year with a grant from the National Lottery.

Volunteers will be required to give basic talks on nutrition and healthy eating, facilitate basic cookery demonstrations with participation by clients in preparing healthy dish options. This will involve preparing dishes using only raw ingredients, using a microwave and a cooker.
Volunteers who enjoy gardening, will also be encouraged to facilitate basic gardening in pots sessions so that clients can learn to grow their own fruit and vegetables.
Full training will be given on basic nutrition, health and hygiene.
Volunteers should be good communicators, have good basic knife skills and enjoy cooking. An interest in gardening is desirable but not compulsory.
A small separate project within the Healthy Eating remit aimed at elderly Asian widowers will also be set up and Gujerati speaking volunteers with cooking skills are also required.
Volunteers need to be available to give demonstrations either late morning or early afternoon and will need to commit approximately 2 hours per week.

If you are interetsted please call on the number given below.

Further information

For further information call the Volunteer Co-ordinator on 020 8861 7997 or call into the Age Concern Harrow Office during opening hours (10am-1pm) to collect a volunteer pack from reception.

You are also welcome to write to us (Our contact details).

Any profits generated by Age Concern from these products go directly to support Age Concern's charitable activities both locally and nationally. If you contact the above Age Concern office, you will be dealing with an Appointed Representative of Age Concern Enterprises which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority for insurance mediation. The above Age Concern is a registered charity.