Childrens Hospices Across Scotland
Charity registered in Scotland SC019724
CHAS is the only charity in Scotland that provides vital hospice services for children and young people with life-shortening conditions. We offer care for the whole family in our two children's hospices, Rachel House in Kinross and Robin House in Balloch. We also run a homecare service called CHAS at Home helping families in their own homes across Scotland when they need it most.
We are currently supporting over 300 families, as well as significant number of families who receive bereavement support. Our services are funded mainly through the generousity of our many supporters who help us to raise over £9million needed each year to provide these hospice services.
Current opportunities
CHAS runs a number of charity shops across Scotland, selling donated stock as well as new goods to raise the vital funds required to care for children and their families. You will be volunteering within our retail team, assisting with the day to day running of the shop floor and provide excellent customer service.
What activities will I be involved in?
Welcoming and assisting customers
Accepting donations and registering donors for Gift Aid
Merchandising and displaying stock
Serving customers at the till point
Creating new and exciting window displays
What skills and abilities would I bring to the role?
Good communication skills and attention to detail
A good understanding of excellent customer service
A real aptitude for team working
The ability to represent CHAS enthusiastically and appropriately
Shared values with the organisation
How much time should I offer?
You can volunteer Monday to Saturday (Monday to Sunday in Dunfermline), in the morning or afternoon. Shifts usually last for 4 hours, but this can be flexible. This can be weekly, fortnightly, monthly, and even on a bank basis.
What ongoing learning/support/guidance will I receive?
It's important to us that you feel happy, safe and confident in your role. You will be invited to complete a short core learning package that is tailored to your role. This can be done online or face to face with support.
We are always developing new opportunities for volunteers to learn and offer a range of options for volunteers including over 25 free accredited online training courses from counselling skills to customer service through our partner organisation Skills Network Scotland. We also offer a full induction where we provide full training. Trial shifts can also be arranged to help you decide if this is the right role for you.
What are the potential benefits to me?
Learning new skills
Getting involved in your local community and making a real difference to the families of children with a life-shortening condition
Adding to your CV
Meeting new people
What are the benefits to the children and families supported by CHAS?
By selling goods in the shops, you are directly raising the funds that enables us to support children with a life-shortening condition and their family.
What else should I know?
You must be aged 14 or over for this volunteering role. If you are younger, you may be able to volunteer if a parent accompanies you. Please get in touch for more information. We have a full youth policy in place to ensure young volunteers are well supported when volunteering.
We will pay your out of pocket expenses in line with the CHAS volunteer expenses policy.
CHAS is committed to providing a quality volunteering experience to all volunteers, free from discrimination and prejudice. Ensuring that CHAS is an equal, diverse, and inclusive organisation improves the quality of care we provide, helps us reach more families and children, and maximises a wide variety of knowledge, experience and expertise.
We welcome volunteer applications from those who are refugees, asylum seekers, benefit claimants and those with a disability. We can provide more information about your eligibility to volunteer and any reasonable adjustments we can put in place to ensure your volunteering experience is a positive one. You can contact us on 01577 866065 or email volunteering@chas.org.uk.
What’s the next step?
If you're interested in this role, you can apply online at https://www.chas.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer/volunteer-application-form. If you have any questions, please contact the Volunteering Team on volunteering@chas.org.uk.
At CHAS we care for children throughout Scotland and we're here for the whole family. Whether at home, in hospital, or visiting us at Rachel or Robin House, we'll give families the care and support they need, when they need it. Driving is a big part of keeping CHAS running smoothly. Our retail driver’s help deliver items for sale in the shops, they also ensure our vehicles are safe and cover many thousands of miles every year.
What activities will I be involved in?
Driving CHAS vehicles/your own car
Collecting/delivering items between CHAS sites and supporters
Loading and unloading vehicles
General maintenance and checks, cleaning and refuelling vehicles
What skills and abilities will I need to have?
A friendly, professional manner
A full UK driving licence
Access to and use of own car and/or ability to drive CHAS vehicles
Good communication skills
Ability to represent CHAS positively
Physically capable of undertaking manual work
Adhere to rules around GDPR and a strong understanding of confidentiality
Shared values with the organisation
How much time should I offer?
You can volunteer on any day of the week from Monday-Friday. Flexible time commitment but ideally 4 hours per week.
Where is the opportunity based?
There is the potential to drive for CHAS across Scotland, however most opportunities are in Kinross and Dunfermline.
What ongoing learning/support/guidance will I receive?
It's important to us that you feel happy, safe and confident in your role. As a CHAS volunteer you will be invited to complete a short core learning package that is tailored to your role.
We are always developing new opportunities for volunteers to learn and offer a range of options for volunteers.
What are the benefits to me?
Learning new skills
Getting more involved and making a real difference to the families of children with a life-shortening condition.
Adding to your cv
Meeting new people
Having fun!
What are the benefits to the children and families supported by CHAS?
As a national charity it is vital that CHAS has excellent transport links. Drivers ensure the CHAS retail van is fuelled, clean and in good condition ready for the team to visit CHAS sites and transport stock. By transporting stock for sale you are enabling CHAS to raise funds to support children with a life-shortening condition. The funds raised allow us to develop our service to children and families, ensuring they get the care and support they need.
What else should I know?
Volunteers need to be aged 21 or over to drive a CHAS vehicle. You can volunteer under the age of 21 if you have access to your own car and a full UK driving license.
This role requires volunteers to apply for a basic disclosure through Disclosure Scotland. There is a simple form to complete and we will assist you with this. The process won’t cost you anything and having a criminal record will not automatically exclude you from volunteering. We will assess each applicant on an individual basis.
We will pay your out of pocket expenses in line with the CHAS volunteer expenses policy.
CHAS is committed to providing a quality volunteering experience to all volunteers free from discrimination and prejudice. Ensuring that CHAS is an equal, diverse, and inclusive organisation improve the quality of care we provide, help us reach more families and children, and maximise a wide variety of knowledge, experience and expertise.
We welcome volunteer applications from those who are refugees, asylum seekers, benefit claimants and those with a disability. We can provide more information on if you are allowed to volunteer and what adjustments we can put in place to ensure your volunteering experience is a positive one. You can contact us at volunteering@chas.org.uk.
What's the next step?
If you’re interested in the role you can apply online at https://www.chas.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer/volunteer-application-form
CHAS runs a number of charity shops across Scotland, selling donated stock as well as new goods to raise the vital funds required to care for children and their families. You will be volunteering within our retail team, assisting with stock management to ensure that donations are efficiently sorted and stored so that the shop is always well stocked.
What activities will I be involved in?
Working within a small team to sort, hang and size
Steaming clothes
Pricing items under supervision
Assisting with stock rotation
Making sure all stock is in safe and working order
Keeping the stock room clean, tidy and well organised
What skills and abilities would be suited for this role?
Good communication skills and attention to detail
An aptitude for team working
Strong organisational skills
Shared values with the organisation
How much time should I offer?
You can volunteer Monday to Saturday (Monday to Sunday in Dunfermline), in the morning or afternoon. Shifts usually last for 4 hours, but this can be flexible. This can be weekly, fortnightly, monthly, and even on a bank basis.
What ongoing learning/support/guidance will I receive?
It's important to us that you feel happy, safe and confident in your role. As a CHAS volunteer you will be invited to complete a short core learning package that is tailored to your role. This can be done online or face to face with support.
We are always developing new opportunities for volunteers to learn and offer a range of options for volunteers including over 25 free accredited online training courses from counselling skills to customer service through our partner organisation Skills Network Scotland.
We also offer a full induction where we provide full training. Trial shifts can also be arranged to help you decide if this is the right role for you.
What are the potential benefits to me?
Learning new skills
Getting involved in your local community and making a real difference to the families of children with a life-shortening condition
Adding to your CV
Meeting new people
What are the benefits to the children and families supported by CHAS?
By selling goods in the shops, you are directly raising the funds that enables us to support children with a life-shortening condition and their family.
What else should I know?
You must be aged 14 or over for this volunteering role. If you are younger, you may be able to volunteer if a parent accompanies you. Please get in touch for more information. We have a full youth policy in place to ensure young volunteers are well supported when volunteering.
We will pay your out of pocket expenses in line with the CHAS volunteer expenses policy.
CHAS is committed to providing a quality volunteering experience to all volunteers, free from discrimination and prejudice. Ensuring that CHAS is an equal, diverse, and inclusive organisation improves the quality of care we provide, helps us reach more families and children, and maximises a wide variety of knowledge, experience and expertise.
We welcome volunteer applications from those who are refugees, asylum seekers, benefit claimants and those with a disability. We can provide more information about your eligibility to volunteer and any reasonable adjustments we can put in place to ensure your volunteering experience is a positive one. You can contact us on 01577 866065 or email volunteering@chas.org.uk.
What’s the next step?
If you're interested in this role, you can apply online at https://www.chas.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer/volunteer-application-form. If you have any questions, please contact the Volunteering Team on volunteering@chas.org.uk.
A rewarding role, where you are making a direct difference to the families of children with a life-shortening condition.
Home Support Volunteers visit families in their own homes (in your local area), to provide practical support to ‘lighten the load’ of family life.
It may include:
Housekeeping – hoovering, ironing, changing beds, general tidying,
Practical Sibling Support - spending time with siblings/play
Or other tasks identified by families eg. taking pet dog for a walk
What is Required?
*You can volunteer on any day of the week; mornings, afternoons, or early evenings. An average shift is approx 2 hours with the family, and ideally we are looking for a weekly commitment. All training will be provided, with ongoing support from Team Lead.
* You need to be able to drive
*You need online access to complete a 'visit log ' (this can be done on a phone, laptop or tablet)
*We welcome friendly, caring people to join our team
To find out more, please contact Emma Steel on emmasteel@chas.org.uk or 01389 722079,
or apply directly via the CHAS Website