Wednesday March 10, 2010Volunteering

Foresight recruits and manages volunteers, who assist with supporting all service users to access a wide range of activities on offer at the centre which helps to promote independent living in and outside the home.

Foresight has various ongoing projects, numerous courses and activities inside the centre and a variety of sports and active recreation held at various centres though out North East Lincolnshire and the surrounding areas and a variety of different volunteers are needed for each one. The organisation also offers a befriending service for visually impaired people over the age of 18 yrs and each befriending client needs a volunteer to support them. Foresight also runs a ’V’ youth volunteering project and works with young volunteers from 16yrs to 25 yrs who not only assist with the day to day courses and activities at the centre but also play an important role in the children’s holidays schemes that run throughout the year. Foresight volunteers are the heart of our organisation and their support and commitment to the service user is undoubtedly first class.

Volunteering is not just about giving up personal time and supporting others it is also about gaining the necessary skills to build self confidence and self-belief that many people are lacking through various different life issues. Volunteering is also about meeting other like minded individuals and building a new network of skilled, confident, independent volunteers.

Our volunteers like our service users face many difficult challenges in their everyday life. Foresight aims to ease some of these issues by providing support to our volunteers and promoting various training programmes We provide a safe environment, a friendly atmosphere and sometimes a place away from the everyday problems of home and work life itself.

Networking with other organisations is paramount to Foresights ongoing need for volunteers and as there is a wide range of people who are in need of the opportunity to progress their personal skills and wellbeing, Foresight is keen to support and promote their volunteers to succeed in achieving their own personal goals. Many organisations struggle to find placements in the private sector and rarely look at the third sector as an open ended opportunity to fill this ever growing gap. Foresight aims to close this gap and has already gained various partnerships with leading organisations such as A 4 E, North East Lincolnshire Council Employment Development Services supporting the Entry to Employment programme, Duke of Edinburgh, V involved and will continue to open doors to other organisations.

Foresight offers taster days for new volunteers to access before they decide if volunteering is for them. Training programmes are tailored to the volunteers needs. These range from mentoring, volunteer skills, basic skills, visual impairment awareness, personal development, achieving personal goals, budget management and many more. Volunteers can also access our services and activities to include our health trainer service, information technology classes and more.

Volunteers can enjoy the socialising aspect of Foresight as the organisation likes to treat the volunteers to at least one celebratory bash a year, to thank them for all their hard work.

The rewards and skills that are gained through volunteering are beneficial to all parties involved and all training providers, third sector organisations and the private sector should work towards building a better future for volunteering.

Many of Foresights volunteers look to gaining skills, confidence and references for further education or employment or just to assist the service users to lead a better quality of life. The rewards for volunteering with Foresight are second to none we offer training, socialising, friendship, commitment and most of all a caring, supporting attitude towards our volunteers.