What might stop you from volunteering to work with homeless people?

Hope I'm not labouring the point, but I decided to add that because homeless people are so vulnerable, and their situation presents such challenges, I think volunteers need to have a lot of clarity in their role and support in their dealings with the homeless.

I worked in homeless shelters ( paid but they had volunteers) ,I did mainly nights. It was lone working too. Yes it had its moments but some of the most courageous people Ive ever met live in homeless shelters and some of the most judgemental go to church on Sundays.

Be read all of grannyactivists replies several times and honestly, I still don’t know what volunteering with her organisation would involve, what it is that is needed. It would put me off.

Lots of people have said it needs defining for people to know whether they have anything to offer and what will be required of them. I think its really important to get this sorted if the organisation really wants to recruit more volunteers.

I’ve read……

Peasblossom

The only reason I haven’t gone into specifics on here is because it would be such a long post, but I’ll give it a go.

We do actually have a full job description and person specification for Caseworker roles and the job of Volunteer Co-ordinator is also well defined.

For our volunteers in ‘support’ roles we have a list of skills that would be useful for our volunteers to assist clients with: driving people to appointments or accompanying them on a bus, helping with simple cookery, supervising food shopping and buying clothes, admin and IT support, form filling, making phone calls, helping with reading letters, assisting with budgeting plans………etc. We also have a need for befrienders with ‘soft skills’ to meet our clients for walks, cafe outings, visits etc. (Some of our clients have a Learning Disability and others have been outside mainstream school from a very young age and have limited social skills or abilities.)

Our Caseworkers also need support. We have a brilliant young woman to manage our Facebook and Webpage and do the business admin, but the Caseworkers also need more people who can take on PA roles. For example; when we house clients who have been street homeless we help them to furnish their new home. This means sourcing white goods, furniture and general housewares, booking carpet fitters, arranging for utilities to be supplied etc. Having volunteers to help us with this kind of thing would be invaluable - and they don’t need to have any interaction with the client group.

Some of our clients, especially men and women who have been subject to domestic abuse, just need a really good listener; someone who isn’t trying to ‘fix’ them, but just come alongside and help them to de-stress.

We make it clear that our volunteers can give as much or as little time as they wish. One volunteer gives two hours a month, another gives just half an hour a week.

A small number of our clients have had little or no experience of any kind of normal life so we continue to offer up to three years support for clients after they’ve been housed locally. By doing this we have had only one client, in six years, who has been evicted and ended up back on the streets.

Fortunately we’ve never needed a fundraiser, but I’m sure we would get plenty of volunteers for that role if we did.

If I was looking to volunteer, I would find your latest post much more accessible in terms of what you were actually looking for, GrannyActivist. Broken down, it’s far less daunting and certain skills may leap out at someone as being something they could offer.

An aside! I met my DH in a homeless shelter! He was working there in a paid role and I was a volunteer when I was a student.

From reading your latest post, I would say that you need a short punchy ‘elevator’ pitch for potential volunteers.
I think that some of the volunteer roles do not require interaction with the clients needs to be laboured, because those volunteers once in the role might then feel confident to move to the client facing roles once they see for themselves all is safe, perhaps that is how you find those types of volunteers.
Also the benefits to the volunteers needs to be outlined. Do you have social events for the volunteers? I’ve enjoyed the volunteering roles I’ve done in the past because it has been a chance to meet other woman my age in the area and have a natter whilst fundraising. Maybe chat to your current volunteers and capture in quotes what are the bits about the role that they enjoy!

I agree with other posters. The complexities of this organisation would put me off initially applying. I work at a children’s hospice where volunteers are welcomed. Those that stay around for a while are those that are given robust training and support and feel a useful part of the team. Some have voiced to me that they they never really knew what was expected of then and so didn’t feel useful - they never stay long. It works best when there’s a formal chat to find out about the person, then to fit them into a specific role that suits them. I would personally feel intimidated by the size and range of skills required, and my instinct would be that I wouldn’t fit in. Keep it simple initially and fit the person to the role would be my advice.

To answer your question grannyactivist I have to be honest and say that working with homeless people does not really appeal to me. I think we all have areas where we are not comfortable and this would be one of mine. Sorry if that sounds selfish. I worked for many years both in a paid and voluntary capacity with adults with learning disabilities and complex needs. I could relate well to this group of people and we all benefited. I admire all you do and wish you well in your work.

LadyGaGa
Apart from supporting people who have suffered domestic abuse, can you point to anything in grannyactivists post @ 00.21 that does not include issues, activities, that we have all dealt with in our working/personal life.
It’s not rocket science.
No disrespect grannyactivist I’m sure you understand what I’m saying ?

Admire what you’re doing Granny Activist. Anyone through circumstance can descend into homelessness, once down on the streets it’s just survival. Thank goodness there are people who see them as just that, not something.

There are definitely people who shouldn’t work with vulnerable people.
This thread reminded me of an incident when I was a volunteer for MIND.
We had a regular user of our services. Every time she came in she wanted to use the phone in the office. All of the volunteers ( bar one) didn’t have a problem with this.
One evening she came in and asks to use the phone. I replied my usual but the woman I was working with said oh no, dear, that’s just for our use
All hell was let loose. I could usually calm this person down, but not in this instance. The police were called.
Needless to say, the other volunteer didn’t return.

Grannyactivist what your charity provides sounds like the type of service and support that all areas would benefit from having as part of statutory provision. It sounds amazing.

There have been previous posts though Meryl which described attending safeguarding meetings, Granny has experience of this in her previous professional role (as have I but I still wouldnt do it in a voluntary capacity) so I could see why some people on the thread might think that was too much for them.

I have followed this thread with interest.
Sodapop (did you get that name from The Outsiders?!) please don't feel uncomfortable or selfish. Much better to do a volunteering role well because it suits you, than one that makes you feel uncomfortable. There are so many volunteers needed.

Grannyactivist - I agree with SueDonim. I get the impression that this conversation has been helpful to you - I certainly hope so.

And I would add that MerylStreep's example illustrates some of the difficulties - the policy should have been clear to all, not just a decision on the hoof about who did or didn't 'have a problem with it'.

Thank you for replying to my post grannyactivist.

Gosh I’d love the job of sourcing furniture and white goods. Right up my street.

Don’t suppose you’re in the Midlands?

That made me smile peasblossom.

The point about safeguarding meetings is well made Galaxy. In order to ensure that my clients get the best outcomes possible I sometimes need to challenge decisions made by the statutory agencies and this occasionally results in me raising safeguarding issues.

I get invited to inter-agency and safeguarding meetings in acknowledgement of my professional qualifications and experience. If someone were in my role and didn’t have similar professional standing they would simply not be invited. My current colleagues, for example, would not be invited to attend meetings in my place

Do you have the equivalent of a CSV granny? That's what it's called in my town, it's a support organisation for charities. I volunteered for a long time for an HIV charity, CSV or is it CVS ( I cant remember) were so helpful to us with regards to advice on everything from insurance to recruitment. Our organisation went through peaks and troughs with volunteers, from only a handful who were directly affected at the beginning, to the world and his wife when HIV became 'the cause' for a while and then levelled out again.

Sorry that sounded very cynical. I was one of the 'world and his wife'

Peasblossom I wish I was in the Midlands. I hate shopping - it’s one of my least favourite activities and I avoid it personally as much as possible.

Occasionally I co-opt someone to buy what’s needed, give them a shopping list and a budget and leave them to get on with it. Then they start emailing me links to items and asking what I think! Aargh! Just make a decision - as long as it meets the brief and is within budget I don’t care!!

The upside though, is when it’s Christmas and you’ve helped to house a little family who’ve escaped from a domestic abuse situation. They have new carpets, fridge, freezer and washing machine, adequate furniture and household items, new bedding and clothes for the child - a sackful of toys and enough food to enjoy over the festive period. I ran myself ragged last year trying to make that all happen for one particular client, but we did it and it was well worth all the frustration!

Galaxy I get what you mean about ‘the world and his wife’, some charities have a ‘moment’ when they’re in the spotlight.

We do have an organisation similar to CSV, but they’re hard pressed to recruit volunteers too and in fact the experience we have within our organisation is actually equal to theirs.

I do know that all charities are suffering from a lack of volunteers since communities have opened up again - during lockdown it seems that many people re-evaluated their commitments and, understandably, now place a higher value on things other than volunteering.

In discussions recently I was told that we offer a ‘Rolls Royce’ service, but in the future we may need to settle for being more of a ‘Ford Cortina’ if we can’t recruit more volunteers. ?

Thanks nannarose
My user name is derived from that of a much loved dog who sadly has now died.

Well said '*Neen*. I used to work in a homeless shelter, compassion and empathy what you find amongst the volunteers. Some homeless people find life opportunities missing from day one, others find themselves in circumstances that could happen to any of us.