Befriender volunteers are required to meet with a beneficiary to help alleviate loneliness and isolation, listen to and engage with the beneficiary, promoting positive outlooks and raising self esteem. Regularly meet with a beneficiary, either in their home or at a mutually agreed location. Listen to and engage with the beneficiary, promoting positive outlooks and raised self-esteem. Research into local community groups and activities to find relevant interests for the beneficiary. Identify any additional areas of support and make referrals to the Area Welfare Manager if required. Keep a note of visits undertaken, with recommendations and actions.

A Casework volunteer is someone who carries out welfare support tasks for the Royal Air Forces Association. Welfare support is about listening to an individual and assessing their needs to find out how the Association can provide help to them. Support can include anything from helping put a beneficiary with a disability in touch with social services, so they can apply for funding for a wet room, to something as simple as filling in a form to get a new fridge, for a beneficiary who cannot afford to replace their broken one. It could also be informing beneficiaries of the holiday breaks the Association offers, in one of its three Wings Break hotels. Casework volunteers may also need to gather complex information on beneficiaries to help with applications for care home fees or similar and this can involve providing clear and precise information on finances and correspondences. Beneficiaries are members of the RAF family.

The RAF Association is a member-led welfare charity that exists to ensure all members of the RAF family are supported in terms of welfare, when they require it. The Befriender role is at the heart of this charity objective and volunteers undertaking this role will be helping us to deliver this support to the RAF family. Essentially the aim of the Befriender role is to help alleviate isolation and loneliness, giving time to listen and encourage communication on a shared interest or topic, leading to improving and developing enjoyable social networks. A Befriender volunteer carries out visits to and keeps in touch with members of the RAF family on behalf of the Association. Befriender volunteers exist to provide companionship and to deliver outcome focussed support to a beneficiary and to ensure that they remain part of the community and feel socially connected to the wider family. The role of a Befriender is varied and could involve helping out with practical tasks such as driving someone to a doctor’s appointment, or helping them with their shopping.

Would you like to Volunteer for Home-Start Deveron? Home-Start Deveron is part of a national network that offers friendly, informal support to families with at least one child under the age of five years. The daily stresses of bringing up a family can often become overwhelming and as a result parents find themselves unable to cope. Home-Start Deveron can help to alleviate some of the challenges that families face, through regular support from volunteers, who themselves have parenting experience. As a Volunteer what would I do? Volunteers visit families, in their own homes, for two to three hours per week. How you help is really down to the family itself, some might need someone to talk to, others might need more practical support with meal planning, cooking, reading to their children or finding out about local services. Volunteers can also help to run groups such as Stay and Play sessions and cookery classes for parents. Can my support and friendship really make a difference? The early years before children go off to school are vital and at Home-Start Deveron we believe parents have the key role in creating a secure childhood for their children. It's just that sometimes they need a bit of your help. This offer of regular, flexible support can go a long way to helping families to get back on their feet. Parents grow in confidence, strengthen bonds with their children and regain a sense of the value of themselves as parents.

We are a registered charity offering an accessible, flexible, child-friendly and needs-led therapeutic service to children and families in the Lothians. We aim to recruit two new Board members to strengthen and broaden the skills of our existing Board of Trustees. New members would act as consultants/advisors, offering specific knowledge and experience in the following areas: • Human Resources – policy and practice • Finance –support of voluntary agencies in establishing good practice in line with legislation, and of developing self-sustaining business practices • Early Years – policy and practice (experience in one or more of the fields of health, social work, education, therapeutic support services, or voluntary sector supporting children and families) • Strategic Planning • IT- technical support and/or client database systems • Voluntary sector – as practitioner or board member • Children’s mental health - as practitioner or policy maker • Fundraising The Board meets every 8-10 weeks for around 1 ½ hours at our premises in Eskbank. Meetings take place on a Monday morning.

Every family needs something different, but they all love someone to talk to who isn’t going to judge or criticise them. The children are under 5 so they just want to play, sing, hear stories and run about outside. By turning up once a week for 2 hours you can help to de-stress a family and help them to enjoy their kids, because you are there to take a little of the pressure off. By regular visiting you will help families connect with their communities, feel more confident and be more resilient.

Home-Start offers one-to-one personalised support for parents with children under 5. Home-Start places trained volunteers alongside parents and support is provided for as long as the family needs it. Trustees make up the governing body of Home-Start Dunfermline and have a responsibility to ensure that the charity's activities are carried out in accordance with the Trustee and Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. Trustees ensure that the organisation complies with requirements under both Charity and Company Laws, in addition to other laws such as Employment, Health & Safety etc. Board meetings are held bi-monthly and the trustees take an active part in the discussions and decision-making.

***Please only call if you have the following:- an up to date Disclosure Check and a 4 door car, as we need people who are ready to start straight away*** We have a very specific urgent appeal. We desperately need more volunteer drivers to take patients to their cancer treatment. Due to Coronavirus social distancing guidelines we need many more drivers. If you are under the age of 70, have a Disclosure or PVG and access to a reliable 4 door car please call us now on 01563 538008. We reimburse travel expenses. Thank you. (Disclosures can be updated or obtained online from: https://www.mygov.scot/disclosure-types/ Our Drivers provide transport to and from cancer patient’s homes to hospitals in Glasgow and locally for cancer treatment. The service is especially useful for those who feel unwell after treatment, those living in rural areas the elderly and parents taking children for treatment.

Peep is looking for caring and enthusiastic volunteers who would like to help at our baby and toddler groups throughout the city. We offer free groups that promote attachment based activities (i.e. singing, book sharing, different types of play) to parents and carers in Aberdeen. Our groups are very popular with most having a waitlist, but as a small team we can only offer so many sessions. We’re initially looking for volunteers to help us at the groups but there is a potential for volunteers to receive training to eventually deliver their own Peep groups. If singing and playing with small children isn’t for you, we’re also looking for volunteers to help us with our resource library. Our library has approximately 5000 items and it is a job in itself to keep it up to date. Our library needs someone who can help us clean, sort, repair, and develop new resources that can be used at groups. Although not essential, we appreciate volunteers who can and are willing to sew and be crafty! For further details please contact Natasha Martens, Peep Coordinator at E Mail: nmartens@aberdeencity.gov.uk or tel.: 01224 248389.

This role involves providing support to people and families affected with Cystic Fibrosis. Providing support to people and families with welfare and disability benefit applications. Providing support to people and families to secure financial assistance from grant funding organisations. Providing support to people and families with housing applications.