Age Concern volunteers

Have fun - feel good - make a difference.

Your time is very valuable - just a couple of hours makes all the difference, an occasional hour once in a while, or a few hours each week.

Whatever time you can spare we’d love you to join in, change lives for the better and help make our Island a great place to grow old.

By becoming a volunteer you will benefit from:

Having fun, Making a difference, Meeting people, Free Tea/coffee biscuits, Staff discount, Free parking and Christmas Lunch

We are looking for volunteers to help:

Shop Volunteers

Make our Island a better place - convert donated goods into essential funds to improve life for older people and help our customers get a great bargain in a friendly and welcoming community shop.

What will you be doing?

Working as part of a team having fun sorting, pricing, displaying and selling goods, and welcoming customers, and people making donations, into our friendly shops.

Time requirement

Regular commitment on a rota of three-hour morning or afternoon sessions covering shop opening hours (Monday - Saturday 10.00am – 4.00pm) or occasional holiday cover when required. Our shops are in Port Erin and Ramsey.

Your skills

There are lots of different roles in our shops and opportunities to use a range of skills, so if you enjoy meeting people and being part of a happy team, we will find a role which matches you. We can even help you develop new skills.

 

Gadget Clinic

Become a digital champion - share your computer knowledge and skills and help more older people to:

• learn basic computer skills
• have the confidence to use email, social media or skype to stay in touch with family and friends
• research and shop online
• and discover the benefits of the digital age

What will you be doing?

A range of IT activities including helping people one-to-one to learn basic computer skills, assisting organisation of taster sessions, coaching and supporting individuals using simple workbooks, and helping with basic software and hardware.

Time requirement

Flexible sessions of a couple of hours, with a minimum of two hours a month. This will mostly be on weekdays during the day. You’ll be on a rota for the Lifelong Learning programme of events to suit your availability.

Your skills

IT literate, either as an everyday user confident in the basics, or an IT expert with specialist skills. A good communicator able to pass on information in a simple way. Patient with a sense of humour.

 

Information and Signposting Volunteers

Use your listening and communication skills help individual older people know about services, how they can access support and sources of help.

What will you be doing?

Providing an important, confidential service as part of an office-based team. You’ll be responding to requests for information from people in later life, using our information resource to provide answers to their enquiry or arranging a referral to a specialist service. You’ll be a key point-of-contact to help them make informed choices and access available help.

Time requirement

Sessions of a couple of hours, with a minimum of four hours a month.
This will be on weekdays during the day. You’ll be on a rota (at times to suit you) at our office in Douglas.

Your skills

A good listener who can sensitively find out what the older person’s information needs are. You’ll need to be able to understand complex issues to give accurate information, follow procedures and maintain confidentiality. Non-judgemental, open minded and kind. Computer literacy would be useful.

Fundraising

If you are holding a fundraising event, please consider our charity.
Fundraising events include:

Sporting events
Murder mystery nights
Cycle rides
Race Nights
Bingo
Coffee mornings

There are so many fun ways you can fundraise and change lives for the better. The above are just examples of some of the events that people have raised money for Age Concern Isle of Man.  Help defeat loneliness and isolation, and enable older people on our Island enjoy life as valued members of our community.

If you would like to join in, and make a real difference, get in touch now.

Corporate Support

We love to work with local businesses who share our desire to change lives for the better and make our Island a great place to grow old.

If you partner with us we’ll spend time with you to understand your needs and how we can best work together. We will develop a joint plan to transform lives for older people and to meet your CSR objectives.

Sharing knowledge and skills

Can you become a digital champion by supporting our Lifelong Learning programme to help older people build up confidence to use computers, tablets and smartphones, access the internet and stay safe online?

We will work with you to structure volunteer opportunities for your employees to share and develop their skills, as well as giving them that ‘feel good factor’ which comes from helping others.

Sharing kindness and friendship

There’s loads of ways your business can help. Some companies help us by:

• Creating Christmas Hampers
• Cake Bake Sales
• Dress Down Days
• Donate Staff Time
• Clothes Donation Boxes

If you want to know more about Age Concern and what it does, contact 631740 and a member of the team can arrange a meeting.

With your help we can enable older people who are lonely or isolated have fun, make friends and feel valued and cared for by our community.

It is a great way to make a difference, and we all feel better for it.

Raising funds for vital services

As an independent local charity Age Concern Isle of Man continually has to raise funds to provide vital services. Please consider us when you are choosing your Charity of the year, corporate events, team building days or event sponsorship.

Contact us to see how we can work in partnership to transform life for older people on our Island.