Robin, 21, volunteers with Read Easy.
I moved to Manchester four years ago from Guernsey. I decided to get involved in volunteering over the summer of 2020. I was starting a master’s degree in the September and due to lockdowns, I realised that I would have some spare time on my hands.
I got involved in volunteering through the Volunteer Centre Manchester website. I initial responded to an advertisement for the role of reading coach. I've had been involved in reading initiatives before based around children and had found the experience rewarding and good fun. I therefore decided that Read Easy would be the perfect charity to apply myself to. However, once I was in contact with Read Easy my supervisor told me about the pioneering role which I then decided to get involved with.
I started my volunteer role as a pioneer in January 2021. In my role as a pioneer I, along with a team, am working to set up a new Read Easy reading group in Central Manchester. This role involves making contacts with charitable organisations, businesses and the local community in order to recruit new reading coaches and management team volunteers and ascertain the level of need within the community. In my role I have developed relationships with local libraries, food banks, MPs, councillors and local media outlets, like radios and newspapers.
I have enjoyed the amount of freedom I have had to take control of my own projects throughout the process of volunteering. As we have all been working from home, this has enabled me the freedom to be flexible about when I do my volunteering. A lot of the time I will spend a morning or an evening when the time most suits me. The experience has allowed me to gain a lot of experience in building contacts and drafting reports, all things that will be useful in my future career.
Volunteering has allowed me to get to know a large group of people from across the Read Easy organisation in a period of time where it has been especially difficult to meet new people. It feels good to have been able to build something that will hopefully benefit the community for a long period of time even after I am no longer involved in pioneering.
I really enjoyed the first time I ran my own zoom meeting. Having been in many meetings before, I was proud of the fact that I arranged this meeting and ran the agenda throughout sticking to my plan and communicating what I wished to communicate to my audience.
I would say that volunteering a really good experience and that it is possible to find volunteering that fits virtually any schedule. I was concerned when I started looking for places to volunteer that I would end up overfilling my time with my numerous other commitments alongside volunteering. However, it is important to remember that most places are willing to work to your schedule and therefore time shouldn't be a deterrent.