Most regular volunteering activities will have stopped during this time as a result of social distancing precautions. Please check in with your volunteers regularly, especially if they are living alone.
If you are able to include volunteers in some way, please ask them if they’d like to be involved. Having something to do and feeling useful is really important for good mental health, especially during this period of social distancing.
Here are some ideas of things they can do to stay involved:
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Proof reading of documents or other admin tasks that don’t involve sensitive data.
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Undertake free online training for something that will be useful when current precautions end.
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Supporting with social media.
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Researching advice, resources and positive things to share with service users during the current crisis.
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Film themselves providing training for a skill – for example cooking, home-based exercise or basic DIY. This could be shared with service users if appropriate.
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Film themselves talking about the value of being a volunteer and ask others who can volunteer to give their time.
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Volunteer by video call.
If your volunteers don’t use the internet or are not tech-savvy, they could:
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Write about being a volunteer and encouraging others to volunteer.
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Come up with ideas for future fundraisers, trips, activities etc for when the current precautions end.
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Write thank you cards (obeying hygiene precautions) for funders or people volunteering now.
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If they have been volunteering for a long time, they could write a history of the organisation and how things have changed. This could be posted on the website.
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Become a penfriend or phone buddy.
Volunteering with other organisations:
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If you can’t involve them and they want to volunteer, advise them to contact Volunteering Kingston and we will try and find the right role for them.
Let us know if you have any other ideas or would like any support.