We had a chat with our very own Andy Vickery who started off volunteering with VAR a few years ago before becoming our Neighbourhood Development Worker.
Andy undertook one of our Volunteer Centre roles which helps folks who want to volunteer find the right role for them.
Why were you interested in volunteering?
I was at a time in my life when I had just finished working and, after I’d had a couple of months off, I felt that I still had more to give and not retire. I wasn’t ready to go back into paid work yet, so volunteering seemed like the natural thing to do. All through my working life I have never had the opportunity to do something positive for other people in a volunteering type of way. I felt I could give something back and I also had a lot of skills from my previous role that I still could share and benefit others.
How did you find out about VAR and the volunteering opportunities here?
I didn’t know VAR existed. I simply put “volunteering opportunities” into Google and it came up with VAR, showed there were opportunities available, and I applied, simple as that.
Can you tell us a bit more about your volunteering role here at VAR and what it entailed?
The volunteer role at VAR was an admin-based role. People had contacted VAR and shown an interest in volunteering and through talking to them, I try and align a role on VAR’s website that fits with them. It’s about understanding their needs, their wants, their situations and sometimes their physical abilities. It’s almost like a recruitment role. I met people, talked to people, went to a few outreach events, spent hours and hours on the telephone talking to people. I really, really, really enjoyed it and I did that for about nine months.
And what was your favourite thing about it?
From a personal perspective I felt very enthused and positive about the changes I was making to people’s lives, just simple things you know, it’s nothing life shattering but none the less; I was having a positive impact on people and that was really valuable to me.
One story that comes to mind straight away – I was talking to one person who had had a stroke. She had been referred to us by the social prescribing team and was a seasoned volunteer, but because of her stroke her physical ability and her communication levels were a little bit lower than typical. I managed to align her with a telephone-based role. Thinking about what she was able to do, since the stroke she couldn’t use a computer anymore, but she could still talk on the telephone. This gave her something positive. She’d gone through such a traumatic event with the stroke, but by being able to volunteer, it really benefitted her. She thought her volunteering days were over, but being able to line her up with something else that met her physical and mental abilities was amazing. She and her partner were delighted.
How did you find coming into VAR and volunteering here as a place of work?
VAR as a place of work was interesting because it’s a world away from what I was used to. I am used to working in an office environment so that was absolutely fine, but what really struck me straight away was how friendly and welcoming everybody was. In that sense it was very different from what I had previously experienced. I was as nervous as a kitten when I started, but obviously that passed very quickly.
What I would also say is you get a lot of support volunteering from your peers and the people around you, which is fantastic. It certainly helped my mental health at the time because coming from the paid work that I did, which was quite stressful and anxiety laden, poisonous in a lot of ways; going from that environment to volunteering has really helped my mental health. By being immersed in such a positive environment, so that’s reflected in what I do.
You ended up getting a paid role here at VAR as our Neighbourhood Development Worker, can you tell us a bit about that and what it is like working in the sector?
It is an excellent role for me because it has allowed me to bring a lot of my previous skills and experiences to the fore. Coming from a business environment where I was used to meeting people, talking to them and understanding what they want to do; this is the same as what I do with the groups I meet now.
You can’t help but be affected by some people’s positivity in this sector. Some people are doing it completely selflessly. I have never been exposed to anything like this before in my life, so it’s such an encouraging thing meeting so many positive and impactful people. The voluntary sector is a different world.
What would be your plea or line to someone who is thinking of volunteering?
Don’t be afraid of the unknown, just have a go! If you don’t like a role that’s fine, it might not be for everyone, but don’t dismiss volunteering full stop if something doesn’t work. Try something else it’s as simple as that. Don’t be afraid of trying something new, you might just actually end up enjoying it.
You can find out more about volunteering as a Centre Volunteer at VAR on our website.
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