I started in my job at The Gingerbread Centre as Coordinator for Volunteers late in October 2019. This is the first time that the organisation has had this role, so this has been an interesting challenge!
I work three days a week: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and share an office at Rothesay Court with Paul Deakin, the Fundraising Manager, and with Julie Levert, Personal Assistant to the Chief Executive. Our office is where staff sign in and out and it’s a route to Michaela in Reception, so I see a lot of different staff every day.
After my induction with Wendy Hocking, the Chief Executive, I spent my first weeks getting to know the few volunteers who already support the organisation. I’ve also been talking to staff at both Rothesay Court and Catherine Court about what roles they would like new volunteers to carry out to help us to run smoothly and to provide an excellent service for the parents and children we support, as well as to help us to raise money to supplement the income we receive from grants.
Working closely with Paul, our Fundraising Manager, has meant I’ve got involved with the preparation for the Ball he organised in November and with the Star Bikers’ Toy Run in December and I’ve learned a lot about how volunteers could get involved in helping us to run both these events more smoothly in the future.
We were delighted to welcome one new volunteer in November, who has now completed her induction and safeguarding and food hygiene training and is helping the Support Team at Rothesay Court two days a week and is really enjoying her days with us. We have another new volunteer starting in February and another who we hope will soon be able to help at Catherine Court.
I now have a clearer idea of what volunteer support is needed, and I’ve had the chance to review and update the induction process and paperwork, to make things as straightforward and as easy as possible for new volunteers.
My next jobs will be updating the Gingerbread Centre website content and actively promoting the volunteer vacancies which are needed most urgently.
So if you’re wondering if volunteering might be something you’d like to try in 2020, I’d love to hear from you. Have a look at the Volunteers section on our website or get in touch with me: deborah.withington@gingerbreadcentre.co.uk or call 01782 973491.