Volunteer with Help Bristol’s Homeless

Help Bristol’s Homeless is a very new and dynamic organisation. It has been, and still is, very reliant on amazing volunteers. These generous people have been vital in helping us to grow to how we are today, and in such a short period of time.

As we are developing, our need for volunteers is changing and will continue to do so. As an extra complication, Covid 19 has forced us to pause some activities, but we are slowly getting back to normal with appropriate Covid-19 safeguards in place. Clearly the well-being of our residents, staff, tradespeople, volunteers, and the wider community is extremely important.

So, going forward …

Please see below for our current (as of August 2021) needs for volunteers.

SKILLED TRADESPEOPLE

We generally have a real need for skilled tradespeople (electricians, plumbers, carpenters etc), in particular those who can self-certify their work. The work would vary from minor maintenance to helping with the conversion of new micro-flats.

CONVERSIONS OF CONTAINERS INTO MICRO-FLATS

We anticipate that we will have limited need for a few practically minded volunteers to help with container conversions. This would either be at Spring Street or another site close to Bristol. This activity is really suited to skilled tradespeople (perhaps retired) or competent home DIY folk.

GENERAL PRACTICAL HELP

Periodically we need people to do various practical things – e.g. painting/decorating, minor maintenance tasks (home DIY type jobs), sorting out donated items.

WELL-BEING CENTRE

This is still a fairly new facility at Spring Street, to further support the well-being of our residents. The services we offer will evolve over time, depending on people’s needs and availability of suitable volunteers.

We already offer, or plan to offer:

Hair cuts

An area for training activities (e.g. first aid, life skills, financial management..)

Yoga, Pilates, meditation classes etc

Massage therapy

Help with form-filling and job applications (e.g. on a PC).

If you have skills that could support this, then please get in touch.

FUNDRAISING

The big thing that we always need is money! This is to help fund the day-to-day running costs, and (hopefully) to enable us to expand so that we can help more people.

If you are able to get involved with existing fundraising activities, or perhaps could suggest new ones then please let us know. This could include anything from asking local businesses for raffle prizes, or running a fund-raising event or applying for grant funding.

OFFICE SUPPORT

Currently we have no need for any further volunteers for this activity.

CLEANING

Currently we have no need for any further volunteers for this activity.

KITCHEN SUPPORT

Currently we have no need for any further volunteers for this activity.

CORPORATE VOLUNTEERS

Large companies often have a ‘corporate social responsibility’ scheme. These schemes allow employees to volunteer for one or more days a year, during working hours.

HBH has found these really useful, for things like painting containers, fences, building plant containers etc. They have also been very interesting, enjoyable and rewarding for the volunteers.

Due to the nature of these activities, they are best done in the warmer, sunnier times of the year.

As the Spring Street project is quite small, we can only really accommodate a maximum of about six people at a time.

If companies have a budget to help provide materials, then that would be fantastic.

If you’ve seen something interesting and want to discuss opportunities with us, then please get in touch by e-mail at volunteer@helpbristolshomeless.org

If we have a suitable opportunity, then it’s a good idea to come in for a chat, to see if we (us and you) think you’ll be a good fit. Or if preferred a phone call or Zoom meeting (other on-line meeting platforms are available).

Volunteering activities generally need to take place during weekdays in office hours, though there is potentially some flexibility.

We recognize that some people would like to have a regular volunteering day. However, we’re a small charity and probably aren’t able to accommodate that. Instead, it’s really useful for us to have a pool of volunteers to call upon as and when there’s work to be done.

We do aim to reply to all offers of help, but sometimes we miss things. If you have contacted us, but are still waiting for a reply, then please do give us a nudge.

Thank you for your support. Together we can make a difference!