Many people find that they would like to do something constructive to help other people and one way of doing this is to give time to work with a particular charity.

In fact you could say that it is one of the most important ways of helping.

If you want to help out at Colchester Night Shelter the first thing to do is to telephone 01206 549885 or e-mail to come in for a visit and have a look around.

Helpful visitors:

If you like what you see and think you want to give it go, all you have to do at first is to sign up to come in for an evening which suits you and help out with some food preparation and practical tasks.

Often this is what many of our volunteers do. In order to continue to do this, all you need to be trained in is food safety and practical advice about our kitchen as it is a catering kitchen rather than a normal domestic one. You can sign up for this work as often as you like. You can come in once a week or once a month. The frequency and day is up to you.

Volunteers:

There are however some of our volunteers who want to become more involved with the work we do with residents and they need to have a more thorough going training which covers things like protection against abuse, confidentiality project policies conflict management and so forth. This training is given free by the Shelter at a time when it is convenient for you.

Now the ball is in your court. So please give us a ring and come in and have a look around.

All helpful visitors and volunteers will be reimbursed for their travel expenses if they choose to make a claim. Once you have decided to come in, you will be taken through an appropriate induction before you come in for your first evenings’ or Sunday afternoon’s session.