• Providing practical assistance, such as help in serving and clearing up the evening meal.
• Befriending users by talking and listening to them and supporting them - often the knowledge that a volunteer has given up their time to be at the Night Centre is important in itself.

Volunteers normally attend from 9.30pm onwards and will help out for 2 - 3 hours on each shift. Usually there are two volunteers on shift at any one time and at least two members of staff on duty. A total of 24 volunteers worked at the Night Centre last year.

CWG arranges basic training for volunteers on such topics as Listening Skills, Confidentiality and Boundaries, Challenging Behaviour, Food Hygiene, Dealing with Addiction and Mental Health Awareness.

Another way of volunteering for the Cold Weather Group is to join the management committee as a volunteer trustee. If you are interested in doing this and feel you may have something to offer, please get in touch with us. We would be particularly interested in hearing from anyone who has skills in finance or public relations.

Read about some of the experiences that people have had volunteering with us on our volunteer testimonials page.

Read about what is expected of volunteers at the night centre by downloading the 2008 Volunteer Handbook.

Some comments made by volunteers in the past:

“I learned that homeless people are not scary, but are normal people with problems. My preconceptions were totally changed.”

“I got the chance to meet a wide variety of people and built up a rapport with those staying at the centre. ”

“I felt like I was able to help and got a lovely response from some of the clients. ”

“Everyone was incredibly nice to us - I never felt threatened or uncomfortable in any way, even when we gave out the wrong meals! ”