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Volunteering: the perks are free
If it’s good enough for Davina and Mariella, it’s good enough for you. Choosing to work for free is a canny and caring move
If you’re under the impression that volunteers are generally well meaning but, essentially, boring people with too much time on their hands, and prone to wearing their hearts on their sleeves, it’s time to adjust your mindset.
Volunteering is one of the trendiest social activities around – second only to dancing as a source of public enjoyment, according to one recent survey by the National Council for Volunteering. An estimated 22 million people are getting involved, in the UK, already – and they’re not all making jam for the Women’s Institute, or knitting jumpers for orphans in Eastern Europe.
Everyone’s at it
Celebrities like Ant and Dec, Davina McCall, Mariella Frostrup and Richard Dreyfuss have all jumped on board the volunteering bandwagon. Even Tony Blair and the Government have decided that, volunteering might be just the thing to promote a sense of citizenship. The Department for Education and Employment initiative, Millennium Volunteers, is a scheme aimed at encouraging 16-24 year-olds to volunteer their time for the benefit of others, using their skills and interests as a starting point.
Lucy Butler of south London is a perfect example of someone who has got as much out of volunteering as she put in. Lucy left school at 15 with no qualifications, and was pregnant by 16. With a child to raise and no real work experience, she felt she had nothing to offer any prospective employer. Signing up with a Government-sponsored pilot scheme, she opted to work with children with learning disabilities. It was just what she needed to boost her self-esteem. ‘The placement gave me bags of confidence. I loved it to bits,’ she says. Lucy wants to continue volunteering and is now applying for jobs as a support worker, something she never thought possible.
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Created: 07/03/2001 Updated: 16/06/2004
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