The Student Room Group

Experiences of volunteering? Good or bad?

Experiences of volunteering? :smile:
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 1
I spent three months at British Heart Foundation for my DofE Bronze..... My God it was absolutely awful.

No one really knew what they were doing there, the back rooms were a complete mess, all I ever did was label products (so, so tedious) and, I will never forget...

One of the guys there used to make me a cup of tea which was nice of him, however only on my last day, when it was my turn for the tea, did I notice that they didn't actually always wash up the cups after using them.
Yeah.
That scarred me.
Reply 2
Original post by AdamCee
I spent three months at British Heart Foundation for my DofE Bronze..... My God it was absolutely awful.

No one really knew what they were doing there, the back rooms were a complete mess, all I ever did was label products (so, so tedious) and, I will never forget...

One of the guys there used to make me a cup of tea which was nice of him, however only on my last day, when it was my turn for the tea, did I notice that they didn't actually always wash up the cups after using them.
Yeah.
That scarred me.


How did you leave?
Reply 3
Original post by janninev866
How did you leave?

Well I was only there for three months as it was my DofE, so when I asked to do volunteering there I stated how long I want to do it and they were fine with that
I've spent my holidays for the past two years volunteering at a specialist nursing home for people with disabilities. It's good, fairly flexible days, lots of outings, free lunch cooked by professional chefs. Most of the negatives were because I'm just not around enough to make friends with the other staff and my patients. I didn't really leave, about a year ago they hired me and I'll probably stay on their payroll for the foreseeable future as it pays very well for someone my age, has good benefits and it keeps me from being bored during the long summers.

edit: I also volunteered at a day centre for disabled people, that was quite fun although not as exciting. I left because I only helped out 2 hours a week on a Monday and that clashed with working at the other place.
(edited 8 years ago)
I worked in a new charity shop in my town. I found it quite fun and rewarding. I worked there with my friend, but everyone else there was aged 35+. It can get a bit boring if there's nothing to do in the stockroom, and you're basically just stood behind the till. I did begin to hate it when I told the manager that I want to improve my confidence, so she made me stand by the door and talk to every single customer; despite feeling incredibly anxious and uncomfortable. Eventually I left because everyone got too...just ugh, with me.


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Reply 6
I volunteered in a charity shop for a bit. The other people who worked there were nice but a lot of the customers we'd get were really rude to me and the other younger volunteers. Also had a few that were annoyed if there wasn't a certain thing in stock. Not sure if this counts as I got a paid job there after being a volunteer but I worked in a community centre and an older woman seemed to have it in for me and another younger woman who worked there. She screamed at both of us because someone rung up saying that people were ringing his landline asking for the centre - turns out his number was the one the centre had back in the 90s and it was on an old geocity site which still came up on Google which was nothing to do with either of us. She also made a huge fuss and tried to make out I was engaging in "criminal activity" when I was printing out an email (as a secretary this was part of my job), she ended up getting a disciplinary for that though.

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I worked at an Oxfam charity shop for 3 months for the DofE Bronze. it was OK. the people were a bit weird but nice and I was always at the back room sorting out the stock. However the experience was horrible! I was disgusted at how much stuff they just throw away. Literally a lot of pottery you give them will just go into the bin and DVDs books etc all junked! the only things they seem to want to keep at the old crap stuff which you know literally nobody will but, while the stuff people will generally buy are just thrown away! I was also disgusted at what people give out of the bags. Literally you get many used underwear and it is disgusting!
Reply 8
Original post by Dejomony
I worked at an Oxfam charity shop for 3 months for the DofE Bronze. it was OK. the people were a bit weird but nice and I was always at the back room sorting out the stock. However the experience was horrible! I was disgusted at how much stuff they just throw away. Literally a lot of pottery you give them will just go into the bin and DVDs books etc all junked! the only things they seem to want to keep at the old crap stuff which you know literally nobody will but, while the stuff people will generally buy are just thrown away! I was also disgusted at what people give out of the bags. Literally you get many used underwear and it is disgusting!


I remember we got a pair of menstrual blood stained jeans in once :puke: The one I volunteered at used to give most of the CDs and DVDs to Music Magpie and get money off them that way as they didn't usually sell well.

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I volunteer in the summer as a welfare officer at festivals and I volunteered with NCS a couple of years ago (I work for them now). I also run a voluntary learning disability group.

Volunteering is whatever you make of it.
I've volunteered for a few charities in head office doing admin- filing, sending out supplies to supporters, sending out mail outs, counting donations e.c.t. Generally its been positive- whilst the work itself can sometimes be a bit tedious the people have made it more fun.
I'm volunteering at a beaver scout colony for my bronze dofe. Screaming children, who are impossible to control, but has it privileges. Not only does it contribute to dofe, it looks great on a ucas form and the leader is a doctor, so great reference.

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So i'm hoping to volunteer from July 17th-August 12th(or even longer) since thats when my school finishes and we have our long holiday whilst we wait for AS results.Anyone know any website i can go on which have volunteer events around this time I've applied to:http://www.streetgames.org/www/content/volunteeringand https://vinspired.com/opportunities/17101/events/196105-summer-reading-mentor-at-pimlico-librarybut im not really sure about the time they start and I have 0 idea whether I can actually do those because they dont specifically mention any dates,i've emailed and one of them has told me(the pimlico one) that she'll get back to me next week monday since shes out of office...i really need to do something this summer otherwise ill be lazing around at home...:frown:
I volunteered for a primary school for 4 months
It was a really nice experience
Wanted to be back at primary school again tbh


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i volunteerd in my local charity shop for the better part of two years. I still do the odd mornings if hte manager is stuck

frankly i loved it. Really easy, lovely people to talk to, no stress or pressure. Id do it everyday apart from the no income side of it
I love(d) volutunteering. Looking at some more in a different capacity, I say if you've got free time you should do some hours-it's better than playing XBOX or whatever.

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