What can I do to help people?

Well I'm taking a gap year and in it I really want to do as much good as I can, it a genuine goal for me.

I've planned on voluntaring at my local domestic violence charity, but I want to do more than that.

Does anyone have any ideas/ charities in mind(not abroad)?

Thankyou :smile:

Reply 1

Amefish

Offer free gardening services to those who may not be able to do their own? Donate to food banks, volunteer at homeless shelters, donate books to schools, volunteer to work with the disabled or mentally ill, work with some local conservation projects

Reply 2

HopelessMedic

Id recommend Revitalise, it was a really fun and rewarding experience, plus you can be flexible with how long you want to do it for.

Reply 3

danuuutka

Original post by TheonlyMrsHolmes

If mental health is something you feel quite strongly about, then Mind is a good place to volunteer - you can work in their charity shops, volunteer for their events to raise money etc. You can also try to get into helping Samaritans, of course this is a bit more time consuming nd not suitable for all people as it can be very intense, however it is very rewarding. I've also seen about adverts of being a friend to someone - say an old person in the community, or someone who is really lonely, you jjust become their friend i.e. take them out for a coffee, go for a walk etc, that is extremely rewarding as you can really get to see the impact you have on someones life.

As for other charities, you can offer to stand around town and collect money, hand out leaflets, help during events - it's just a matter of searching round your local community. You can help by making meals for the homeless, etc :smile:

Reply 4

titfortat

@TheonlyMrsHolmes

Fundraising? I support a charity and I try and see if I can attend any fundraising events or if I can help with raising more awareness about the charity and why it's there.

Reply 5

TheonlyMrsHolmes

Original post by danuuutka

I feel very, very strongly about mental health.
I really want to volunteer for Samaritans, I would love to do that so much! But as you said it could be intense, that slightly worries me as I'm a "sensitive soul" :redface:

Reply 6

danuuutka

Original post by TheonlyMrsHolmes

Before you can even become a person who helps with Samaritans you go through an assessment which checks whether you're the right person for it, and you can always ask to see how intense it is, and if it doesn't seem right for you then don't do that specific thing, but you can do other things within Samaritans that don't actually require taking the phone calls, but still help the cause. You could look around on the website, it'll be helpful.

Thats also a really good place to start, by looking at mental health websites like b-eat which is for eating disorders etc cause they often have like adverts for things you can do to help. It's worth investing some time into looking through those websites!

Reply 7

TheonlyMrsHolmes

Original post by danuuutka

Thanks for the info, the Samaritans is something I'm really going to look at.

Although I've not used it myself, the service sounds like something I would truly be passionate about doing. :smile:

Reply 8

username1539513

Original post by TheonlyMrsHolmes

You are doing a genuinely honourable thing by wanting to do this.

There is literally tons of stuff you can do, what skills do you have? I volunteer at my local hospital helping out with dementia patients, before that I gave money to charities and donated blood occasionally.

Do-it.org is great for finding other voluntary work