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Tuesday, 06 October 2009 13:40 |
Jacqui has been volunteering with British Red Cross as a Befriender as well as helping out in the shop since October 2008.
The responsibility she has as a befriender is to enhance the life of an elderly person she has been paired up with who lives alone and is generally socially isolated.
 British Red Cross’ services are supported through a number of fundraising methods and this includes its large number of shops throughout the UK. Jacqui volunteers in one of the Elgin branches each week too. Here she is a part of a team which is responsible for ensuring that the retail fundraising is successful. When Jacqui first came to Volunteer Centre Moray, she was presented with a number of different options. British Red Cross was one of the first things suggested and both opportunities offered her all the things she was looking for. When Jacqui was referred to the Befriending project, it had recently been taken over by BRC as it was previously run by another local organisation.
The benefits of volunteering are vast depending on the individual. Volunteering can be for helping people expand on their career prospects or purely for just getting out of the house and meeting people.
Jacqui explains “It has taken me out of the house and resulted in meeting new people and making friends with people of all ages”.
“It’s very satisfying and has a feel good factor. I would advise anyone looking for this to try volunteering!”
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Jacqui McTavish
