Volunteers Take One Step Forward!

Frosts have returned but I guess that's what we expect this time of year. I was in a university car park in Hull today and there is still a heap of snow/ice there yet to fully melt - that must have been a hell of a pile.

I was doing some research work around the Governments Big Picture (which I have to say a lot of people are still waiting for a definition of) but I guess it revolves around finding alternatives to providing public services without public services delivering them and involving volunteers, the community, charities and the private sector. I have some views about this which I won't bore you with but I imagine you would believe I don't exactly wholly agree with it (some aspects perhaps, but not the ethos of it.)

What I also discovered was that there is something called an 'Emerging Gap' in the Big Picture and that is in terms of volunteers. The number of volunteers is declining dramatically.

I was fortunate yesterday (Tuesday) to have been involved in a day long workshop on the future funding implications for my organisation which, unexpectedly, was very enlightening and very interesting albeit you can't get away from the pain that will follow in the next four years. I was sat at a table with a lady who had been awarded an MBE, I understand mainly for her work in the voluntary and charity sector. Well done her, and I asked her about why she thought there was a decline in volunteers and she put a very interesting perspective on it of which she has first hand experience.

She described a society in which couples are under more pressure than ever. She particularly singled out women (nothing sexist in this) who firstly were often married and having to work. Unlike my parents generation, there were often enough wages coming in from the main wage earner to pay the rent/mortgage, not so much now, both couples are having to work to pay it. This is coupled with looking after children who they generally have a little later in life these days. Further couple this with often looking after elderly parents or relatives in addition to running a household and there is sort of a picture emerging where it is more difficult because of the pressures of modern life to find the time to volunteer for anything.

This is not stereo typical of course and there are a hundred combinations of circumstances which pin down singles, divorcees, no children couples, unwell people etc etc., who also have massive pressures which prevent volunteering too.

She also cited younger people are often less willing to volunteer as educational pressures and the need to earn extra money during university for example and those who don't go for further education who often work long hours to get a decent wage have less incentive and inclination to volunteer.

My mother has helped to raise probably hundreds of thousands of pounds for local charities in Cottingham in East Yorkshire and for the Lifeboat charity RNLI, and she also works for the Women's Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) once a week but when she retired at 60 ish, she had time on her hands without the responsibilities of more modern day life and she has her health which helps.

Do I volunteer? Not now. I used to sit on a Boys Football League with lots of responsibilities for ten years giving up three years or so ago. That was my contribution as a volunteer. Not very exciting but helped get kids off the streets, give them focus, team work discipline, fitness and skills and hopefully an interest in healthy activity and the opportunity to make friends.

Will I volunteer in the future? Who knows. There are some difficulties and bureaucracy to overcome for many people - Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks, often insurance is difficult to obtain or premiums are too high. Currently I don't have spare time but I'm not sure if that's just an excuse.

Should I volunteer at all? Well, I believe we all have something to give to our communities or neighbourhood or to particular groups of people either in time or cash, but it's more about giving your skills which is predominantly about time - time which is so precious and short for a lot of people. It's good to volunteer of course, a bit of selfless and unsolicited activity for the benefits of fellow man (sorry ladies but that includes you too) is good for the soul.

But if we all did an unsolicited good deed for the day - helping old ladies across the road (never done that but everyone says it happens!) looking out for the elderly neighbour, doing a spot of shopping for them in bad weather, giving someone a lift to the hospital for an appointment, cutting the grass when they're ill, sitting and listening for ten minutes, doing a kindness for a stranger: "you've left your lights on your car," or "you've got your dress tucked into the back of your knickers," that sort of thing, actually for me would probably make a bigger difference to our society as a whole.

What do you think?

Chat soon

Ta-ra.

Volunteers...

I was reminded by one of my football correspondents (who send me local youth match reports for publication) that my blog goes further afield than I would have imagined - thanks for your kind comments Ivor. The world of volunteers is vast, without whom, all the attributes of a caring society would surely disappear?

"Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart."
Elizabeth Andrew

In the context of what Ivor and his kind do, they may do it for their children or community; to give something back, to see others benefit without necessarily asking for or expecting anything in return. We all have the ability or opportunity to give something to our community whoever they are - a particular social group, the area, a group of people perhaps disabled or young or old. I can vouch, as a volunteer, that the act of giving something back gives a warm glow no matter what people think - and there are those who still criticise volunteers, those critics are sad, sad people.

Volunteering probably replaces the caring for the family by the family we see in many countries around the world. In this country, we care more for others than our own family often and that's not a criticism, it's an observation of something of which I approve.

We have developed, through having a free and open society with opportunities, a kind of independence through the more recent post war years. In my young life, my grandparents lived in the family home as well as my parents and myself. My family history research has found that multiple generations living in one house or part of a house was common, and the geographical location made no difference - my London roots are no different from my ancestors in the heart of the East Riding of Yorkshire and Kingston upon Hull.

But I was lucky to have a job as a 16 year old and bring in a small income from an unskilled job and I had parents who were wise enough to put some regular, albeit small sum of money away on a regular basis which in the end provided a full deposit for my first house. I gained my independence in pretty quick time and married at 22 with my own house. How different it is now with kids struggling to find deposits, decent quality reasonably priced homes in reasonable areas.

Perhaps our children will once more become more dependent on their parents than I had to be (although mine helped me out often in the early years of struggle) and maybe we will see more than one generation living together in the future, who knows? Family values and better people may emerge.

"Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve.... You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Chat soon

Ta ra.