We love this time of the month: when we get to shout about our amazing volunteers and the quite literally life changing work that they do to help Fresh Futures run smoothly and effectively.
This month we are giving a very special THANK YOU to Diane David, who started volunteering earlier this year and has helped out across many of YCC’s departments since then!
We caught up with Diane to hear about her Fresh Futures Volunteering Journey so far…
- Name: Diane David.
- Tell us a little about yourself? I’m a single mother in my 40’s. I initially came to Fresh Futures to begin some training around getting back to work, having been a stay at home mum for over a decade. Then the pandemic hit and I was introduced to the Hopeful Families programme.
- How long have you been volunteering for the charity? I began volunteering in March this year, so it’s been around four months.
- Please explain your volunteering role in a nutshell: In my volunteering role, I help out Jo with the weekly stay and play and spend time interacting with both the kids and their parents. I also helped out at recent Jubilee celebrations and generally anywhere I’m asked provided I have the time.
- What made you want to start volunteering with YCC? Being on a programme here helped me massively during the isolation of the pandemic. I have a teenage daughter on the autism spectrum and so my life was somewhat isolated already. I was introduced to and given access to courses that I’ve used to gain knowledge and further my interests as well as mental health and well-being support for myself and my family. It was a no brainier to try to pay it forward for all the support I had received during some testing times.
- Sum up a typical day of volunteering for you? A typical day of volunteering would involve me arriving and greeting everyone whether I’ve met them before or not! I generally try to make the children and parents feel comfortable, it can be a little scary for new comers after the last couple of years of uncertainty and of course the children born at that time will have had little to no interaction with their peers. Same goes for parents, especially for first timers it can be a jarring experience and being isolated can have made what should have been a happy time, anxious and uncertain. I try to speak to everyone individually about anything and everything and hopefully Jo and I have made it so people want to come back which is the main goal.
- And finally, what advice would you give to people considering volunteering with YCC? My advice would be, to give it a go! It’s really a very enlightening experience and led me to other things I probably wouldn’t have even considered before. I’ve met some amazing, like minded people, had fun and hope to continue doing so!
If you feel inspired to become a volunteer like Diane, or if you would like to volunteer in any way for our charity, please contact Lucy on 01484 519988 or email [email protected]