I started volunteering with WH Five Loaves recently. WH Five Loaves provides services to the homeless. I retired last summer and when a volunteering role in their Booktique arose, it grabbed my attention. I spent my life working in telecoms and wanted to get involved in something very different from that.
The shop sells second-hand books and vinyl records and was attractive to me as a book lover and music fan. In the shop I’m responsible for organising the books on the shelves, keeping the window display looking well and using the till and card machine. I think I have a good feel for keeping the shop looking well and welcoming the customers. It’s a nice feeling that the work we do in the shop contributes to helping the most vulnerable people in our community.
The shop gets a wide variety of customers from young schoolchildren to older readers. I particularly enjoy meeting the customers and assisting them as needed. Since retiring I missed the camaraderie and chat with work colleagues so meeting and chatting to the customers is a big plus.
I would wholly recommend volunteering to anyone, it can be a chance to challenge yourself in doing something different and there’s a great sense of satisfaction that the time you give will contribute to helping others and making your community a better place.