Want To Help?

We are very grateful to all the volunteers and organisations who contribute to our work. With a growing requirement for support from city-based families, we are always looking for new volunteers and fundraising support.

Volunteering

Our volunteers perform a number of roles – home visiting, charity shop assistant, delivery driver, board adviser, fundraiser, trustee and many more. Those with a flair for events, who prefer to volunteer on an ad-hoc basis, are very welcome to join our Friends of Home-Start Aberdeen group. Further details are provided in our volunteering information pack.

If you have a particular skills set or interest – and would like to use this to support Home-Start Aberdeen – please contact us. We work closely with our volunteers to ensure their experience with Home-Start is meaningful and rewarding. Our requirements are wide-ranging and we are happy to adopt a flexible and inclusive approach to involve as many individuals and organisations in our work as possible.

Home visiting

Our home visiting volunteers are at the heart of the service we provide for local families.

As a home visiting volunteer, you will receive full training and need only commit to providing support for as little as two to three hours per week.

Our home visiting volunteers:

• Offer support to a local family in their own home
• Receive training and ongoing support
• Help others develop their parenting skills
• Encourage families to engage with their communities
• Provide practical guidance on budgeting and household management
• Connect families with other relevant organisations and services.

All of our home visiting volunteers are carefully matched with a Home-Start family to ensure that the relationship is as productive as possible for everyone. Regular training is provided and all volunteers have a co-ordinator who provides ongoing support and meets with them regularly.

Why volunteer?

People choose to volunteer with Home-Start Aberdeen to:

• Make a difference to a family’s life
• Give something back to their local community
• Return the support they once received from Home-Start
• Share a similar experience
• Boost their confidence
• Prepare for returning to work or to progress their career
• Do something fulfilling with their spare time.

You can read about the experiences of some of Home-Start Aberdeen’s volunteers here

Making a difference

Data gathered by Home-Start UK last year indicated that more than 90% of the families supported by Home-Start volunteers said they felt:

• More involved in their children’s development
• That their children’s emotional and physical health and wellbeing had improved
• Better able to manage their children’s behaviour
• Less isolated
• Less stressed
• More able to cope with day-to-day running of the house
• That they were using local services more.

Volunteer training

Volunteer induction programmes, as well as training and development for existing volunteers, run throughout the year.

Details of our next training courses are provided here.

Volunteer resources

Our latest newsletter for volunteers is available to view here

Additional useful volunteer resources are available in our publications library.

Find out more

For an informal, no-pressure chat about becoming a volunteer with Home-Start Aberdeen, telephone 01224 693545 or email volunteering@homestartaberdeen.org.uk

Keen to take the next step? View our volunteering information pack, person specification and application forms here.

Corporate support

Home-Start Aberdeen offers a variety of opportunities for organisations who wish to support our work.

Some suggestions are provided below, however we are also happy to discuss any additional partnership ideas you may have.

How your organisation can help

• Make Home-Start organisation your nominated charity for a year – or longer
• Hold a fundraiser on our behalf – enter a team in a sporting event or hold an in-company event such as a bake sale or dress down day.
• Sponsor a specific event, such as our summer trip or Christmas party for Home-Start families.
• Provide funding towards the training and development of staff and volunteers. This ongoing training is essential to ensure we maintain our high service standards as we deal with families’ increasingly complex needs.
• Allow staff time off for volunteering. This could range from rattling buckets at an annual event to becoming a trustee or home visiting volunteer.
• Providing services in kind. We appreciate that financial contributions are not always feasible. Instead, some local companies provide support by way of gifting us their skills, services and products.
• Supporting our charity shop. We are always looking for donations of good quality items. You can help by organising a company collection - or by permitting staff to donate their time as shop volunteers or drivers who can uplift collections.

Find out how we can help you to meet your CSR goals by downloading our latest fundraising guide.

Current requirements

With a number of families on our waiting list, Home-Start Aberdeen is always in need of support from the business sector to allow us to recruit and train more home visiting volunteers. We are also seeking immediate support for projects as follows:

• Equipping the meeting rooms in our new premises so that these can be leased out to other organisations as a new funding stream. Items required range from new sets of glasses and water jugs to projectors and screens.
• Resources for our volunteer recognition evening. Without our volunteers, Home-Start Aberdeen's service wouldn't exist. Our annual volunteer recognition evening is a small thanks to them for their time and efforts. We require support with items such as printing the volunteer recognition certificates or contributions towards catering.
• Our Friends of Home-Start Aberdeen organise a variety of fundraising events. A raffle often forms part of these events and we are therefore always seeking potential raffle prizes.
• For the past few years Home-Start Aberdeen has organised a book advent, which allows each of the families we support to read a book together every day in December leading up to Christmas. To achieve this, we require donations of good quality second hand children's books as well as LOTS of rolls of wrapping paper. These can be handed in to our offices at 1A Alford Place or to our George Street charity shop (directly opposite John Lewis).
• Our 30th anniversary takes place in 2017 and there will be some very special sponsorship opportunities available throughout the year. Please let us know if your organisation is interested in being kept up to date on these.

Please get in touch if any of the above projects are of interest to you.

If desired, we are happy to work with you to publicise your support of Home-Start Aberdeen.

Charity shop

Home-Start Aberdeen’s charity shop is located in the heart of the city at 101 George Street, opposite John Lewis.

Established in 2012, the shop raises valuable funds towards the work of Home-Start Aberdeen. It also provides opportunities for the parents we support to develop their confidence and skills for work.

The charity shop welcomes donations from both individuals and organisations and offers a free uplift service within Aberdeen city.

If you are interested in becoming a shop volunteer, assisting with our collections or making a donation, please telephone 01224 622390 or get in touch here

Make a donation

Individuals and organisations can make a regular or one-off financial contribution to Home-Start Aberdeen via our Virgin Moneygiving page