Volunteering shouldn't be this hard, surely?

May I suggest you find somewhere more local to you to do volunteering.I have volunteered for 12 years at a residential retirement home and have made some lovely friends. Just see where you wish to volunteer and call them. But it is a commitment and I would suggest that you see which half day / full day suits you and how often you wish to be committed ie once a week, fortnight etc. and apart from illness or hols try to stick to it. Good luck

Dont let your flexibility issues make you feel guilty! That's why you retired for goodness sakes! It's your option to choose when you want to help and it's completely understandable that an organization needs a certain amount of commitments in order to maintain order but unfortunately that is their problem to maintain as harsh as it sounds. Keep looking for what works for you or find something different to do to get hold of the boredom like a fantastic new hobby. Go to a few paint nite classes or find some craft things. Make your own Christmas cards and gifts throughout the year. Good luck.

I volunteer with our local food bank. I deliver to clients who are unable to collect their bags. I usually do 2 sessions a month. We let the organiser know our availability for the coming month and she prepares a rota accordingly. We have a WhatsApp group so if plans change or anyone is ill we message and someone usually picks up the extra shift. When I first volunteered I expected it to be more often but now I'm glad of the flexibility.

Could you not claim your fares as expenses?

I volunteered in the Pandemic and afterwards ... They asked which hospital I could attend .. I am round the corner from Marsden in Sutton ... they offered me a placement in Marsden Chelsea ... Didnt bother as fares etc ..

Does your local village hall or community centre need help with putting on events or baking for afternoon teas, etc?

Gardenersdelight

Have you considered school readers charity
I've been volunteering since May and though they want a degree of commitment I've had no issues if I say sorry can't come next week

I used to do this when my children were at school. I enquired recently and, in our area, you have to fill in a 30 page questionnaire and then attend a course that would mean at least two buses about two hours each way just to go in once a week for a morning or afternoon.

A few years ago I volunteered at the hospital after my husband died but the three days I worked went up to five days to cover other people who did not turn up it was like working full time for no pay. In the end I left because I felt taken for granted.

I was leaving home in the morning, getting two buses (I had a bus pass so I received no money for transport). In the winter I was coming home in the dark. Never again.

A friend of mine did the same and she volunteered in a charity shop, she was told she would be serving behind the counter. All the jobs they gave her was cleaning, washing the floors and counters down and cleaning the toilets and the windows. She also said that when items came into the store, the people sorting them out took what they wanted and didn't pay for them. So she told them where to stick the job.

I think volunteering can be a very non-appreciative job.

Charity shops; cooking for homeless at the shelter; visiting sick in hospital / home with parish or legion of Mary; knitting / beading / crochet for charity; writing articles for voluntary magazines...

I have volunteered in lots of ways over the years, so a few ideas that might work. One of the things I did for a charity was to take jigsaw puzzles they had been given and then count up the pieces. So it could be 2000 pieces or whatever. There were two ways. Mostly it was checking the number of pieces , so I would make piles of 10 pieces and check them like that. Occasionally it would be something very special and I would actually make the jigsaw up to totally ensure it was correct. You need to be trustworthy about your time for the charity by which I mean I used to agree a time scale so I might take several and return by the end of the month , or take one or two to be done in the next 2 days or whateveer. So you can fit it in with your own time available, but it is very satisfying when I seal them up stating no pieces missing etc and they can sell it with that guarantee. then many people who enjoy jigsaws get to know that this charity has good reliable jigsaws and everyone wins. I also used to go through things like loads of knitting needles , sorting them out and putting them together in the correct pairs and groups and just putting elastic bands round them. All these things improve sales and I find it satisfying to improve stuff . You can also work in back rooms sizing things up and checking they are correctly labelled. These may seem very boring but they are jobs that need doing and it is still a contribution to your chosen charity. If you go for that sort of thing then you can find yourself involved in that specific charity and over time you may find something else that fits in with you. I was CRB checked and you would probably have to do the same if involved with any group but I also used to go to a preschool group and was happy to make coffee , help with the children, read stories play games or whatever so that it actually allowed the mothers to meet each other and have a chat to newcomers and the children got to know each other. Same for coffee mornings or things like the wonderful Yellow Book or it is officially called the National Garden scheme where people open their gardens and serve teas and coffees and plants all for charity and so if you offered to be a helping hand at any of those things you would be very welcome. It is most important that you do not let people down, that you go when you say you will, are not late, and are prepared to help out with whatever is needed. Then you get a good reputation for a dependable helper and you will find that you will be asked to help in more situations. dont forget things like flag days when you can be of use. I always did poppy day (and used to rather envy my friend who did princess alexandra day in about june rather than my freezing feet in november!) then you may get contact with a care home where again if you play cards or dominoes or chess or anything like that , there can be a group of people who would be very pleased to have someone who played their game. Of course one of the very simplest thing you could do would be to look about in your own area and offer to sit in with someone whilst their partner gets a chance to go out shopping without worrying about the person at home and rushing about. Perhaps you might take or collect (with permission of course ) children from schood. When you have two children at two different schools and after school clubs etc someone who could help out occasionally can be seen as a blessing especially if they have no family close at hand. Well that should be ok for this week dont know what you might fancy for next week!! Good luck and enjoy it.

A DBS check provides information about a volunteer's criminal history at that point in time. It can help volunteer-involving organisations determine whether a person is a suitable candidate for the role for which they are applying. It forms one part of the wider volunteer safeguarding process.

How about volunteering with Age UK.
They are always on lookout for volunteers at their centres.

I am a befriender with them.
I volunteer to visit a certain person who would enjoy some company and chat.
You have to be vetted, references and all that.
But it is fairly flexible. You could also be a telephone befriender if that suited you better.
Go along to one of their centres if there is one nearby and have a chat. There is a lot going on and you are always made to feel welcome.

How about the Home Library Service? Most towns have one; they were once part of the library organisation but have now become a voluntary service due to lack of funding. You talk to your 'customer' to see what they like to read, and choose books for them , visiting as and when they need the books changing. You can fit that in to suit your lifestyle.

We are thinking about volunteering in Retirement and I asked a volunteer at a National Trust property and she said it was great in that you put forward the days/ hours you can work (the next week I recall , coukd be more notice) and if ever they are short staffed they may email asking for more cover but there is no pressure to do anymore than you have committed to…
Hope you find more opportunities that suit you 👍

I volunteer for the Royal Voluntary Service working in the outpatients cafe at the local hospital. I told them the day and number of hours I could offer and they fitted me in. However I do now work the same day and time every week. One of my fellow volunteers does one shift a fortnight with her friend who works the week when she is off. So some flexibility. Almost the entire operation is staffed by volunteers so its not really possible for people to simply turn up when it suits them, that would just mean the cafe having to shut and both patients and staff use it extensively. I enjoy it hugely and working regularly means you make friends.

Some ideas that I have volunteered for over the years:
Meals on wheels, taking people to hospital for their radiation treatment, hospice visitor, age concern ie taking aged people to the supermarket, park, coffee etc. Then I got too old myself!

Now I play croquet and do the website for the croquet club Also joined a club for the retired and I’m on the committee which involves various tasks.
Maybe some of these might suit you?
Of all of these I enjoy the clubs most as I meet people and since we moved to be nearer our ACs we don’t have any real friends here.

Jannipans

You would never be bored if you joined your local u3a. I am on the Committee of ours so very involved with the running of it too, but for ordinary members, there are Speaker meetings, Outings and special Interest groups - eg walking groups, language groups, Philosophy, History, Canasta, Scrabble etc. You can do as much or as little as you like. I never have time to be bored, in fact I wonder now how I ever had time to work!
Good luck with finding something that suits!

I tried U3A before Covid hit. I studied Spanish many years ago at school and decided to join a course with U3A.

It started off with about 10 of us meeting at one woman’s house. Every week we had to hear about her new sofa/curtains/paintwork before we got started and that bored me. We all had to agree on a coursebook and some were very expensive. I always read reviews and the one they chose had poor reviews and I couldn’t persuade them to think again.
We had a tutor and decided on dates, venues etc but people were always going off on holidays and coming back expecting the rest of us to go back all they had missed and that was boring.

Numbers dropped right off, my Mum deteriorated and I dropped out too to spend time with her.

Do you have an Evergreen charity in your area? They are an organisation that matches, lonely elderly people up with volunteers who provide a befriending service. You can have as much contact as and when you agree with your match, very flexible

Wolfie59

They don’t make it easy, do they. My friend who retired early from a busy PA/Admin role applied for a voluntary NHS administrator role. They wanted a reference from a person of standing in the Community such as Solicitor or Police Officer. She knows neither, so had to withdraw her application. Stupid. No wonder they struggle to get volunteers.

That’s quite normal these days . I volunteer in a charity shop and needed two references. They also check police records . My daughter volunteers on a phone line for age uk and needed similar references.

I volunteer at my library, National Trust and a local trustee run venue. I can do what I want when I want as there is a rota to fill in. There are no demands and no accusations of it doing the hours. The key word is VOLUNTARY! I do not receive any expenses nor do I expect them. I did 10 years with Citizens Advice and got my parking paid! There are many opportunities around if you can be flexible . Don’t volunteer somewhere that requires you every week unless you are able to offer that commitment. Good luck!

Have a look at www.doit.life where there's a page which lists all the available places in your location. Hope this helps.

I’ve managed to get my commitment to work to 2 days a week plus extra days that fit in, so it’s usually 3 or 4 days, there are usually shifts that fit in.
That works well because the holiday entitlement increases as well and I intend to continue as long as I can, certainly until I’m 70.

My friend’s husband drove children to their access visits -he was part of a pool of drivers, so this was ‘as and when’ rather than a weekly or whatever commitment.

He also tried to help a local charity sort out its paperwork and procedures - but that was a bit thankless!

sodapop

I do the rota for volunteers at the small library I help to run. I email the volunteers at the end of each month for their availability the following month. They are free to do as many or as few shifts as they want. Something like this would suit you Loobs

I volunteer at my local library on the same basis and it works very well.

In the past I've had a voluntary role where I realised that the paid staff spent a lot of time in the kitchen chatting and drinking coffee, whilst the volunteers did all the work, hence we were being asked to do more and more hours. When I resigned to some surprise, I pointed out that "volunteering" must also suit the volunteer 🙋‍♀️ .

I also do litter picking on sn ad hoc basis, and look after a tree in our street, weeding around it etc.

I don’t know if you’re near London, but I volunteer with Historic Royal Palaces and you pick your own shifts online and can cancel at fairly short notice if required.