Tell us about your volunteering role, and how long you have been volunteering with Connection Support?
At present I am supporting six clients in Buckinghamshire as a befriender. Two I speak to for about an hour fortnightly, the other four I visit, either fortnightly or weekly, spending about an hour with them each time. Apart from conversation, I’ve read forms and letters with them to aid understanding, made phone calls on the clients’ behalf, bought pens and printed templates for some colouring, visited one in hospital a few times, had a cooking session making fairy cakes, taken one to hospital, to a U3A meeting, and shopping, helped with rubbish clearing.
What I enjoy most about volunteering is getting to know the clients well and becoming a trusted person in their lives.
What have you gained from volunteering?
The friendship, trust and gratitude of the clients. The “warm fuzzy feeling” from knowing you’ve helped someone, that what you have done has made their lives a tiny bit better than if you hadn’t been there.
What advice would you give someone else who was thinking about volunteering with Connection Support?
If you have the time and enjoy helping people, give it a try. If you can begin to imagine what it’s like to be in another person’s shoes and would like their lives to be more bearable, even enjoyable, you’re probably right for the job.
