Gateway Women’s Centre – Volunteers’ Week 2022
At Gateway Women’s Centre, we celebrated Volunteers’ Week at the beginning of June. This is a great week to both celebrate and thank our dedicated team of volunteers, who support us tirelessly behind the scenes and with our group activities.
So, why are our volunteers so important? Well, our team of 9 volunteers bring a wealth of different experiences and backgrounds, which contribute greatly towards the welcoming and therapeutic atmosphere at Gateway sessions. Volunteers also increase our capacity to support more women, by freeing up the staff team, who can focus on offering one-to-one emotional, practical and spiritual support.
Providing hospitality and befriending-style conversations at our ‘Coffee, Craft and Chat” groups are important volunteer tasks, as well as helping the team to set up and clear away activities. For example, our volunteers make sure every woman has a made-to-order drink, ensuring each woman feels valued as an individual. As one of our volunteers recently said, “it’s amazing how small details can make such a great difference to a woman.”
Roles for volunteers at Gateway include leading group activities - like our singing workshops, sewing skills groups and Alpha courses. We greatly value their expertise in these areas – it means we can offer the women a wider range of high quality activities.
Some of our volunteers focus on praying for the project, the team and the women we support. This invaluable role means that confidential prayer requests are acted on quickly – and we are frequently amazed by the outcomes of these faithful prayers. The volunteers have also been a wonderful source of encouragement and inspiration for the team, especially over the past 2 years.
Other volunteer roles have included help with admin tasks, supporting at trips to the theatre and on our annual coach trip, taking part in our Wellbeing Workshops programme, as well as making gifts for the women.
We also plan to introduce a scheme so the women we support also have the opportunity to volunteer at Gateway. Roles may include welcoming women who are new to the service, as well as helping the team with our garden and managing donations. This will be an empowering experience, that increases the women’s involvement in Gateway, while teaching new skills and building confidence.
Volunteers are recruited for Gateway from time to time as needed. Please keep an eye on Off the Fence’s website and social media for updates. Potential volunteers complete an application form, interview, references check and DBS check before starting. There is induction training, and on-going training and support. As one of our current volunteers recently said “I feel very privileged to be a Gateway volunteer. You are all a great team to work with.”
Thank you to all our amazing volunteers! For more information, please get in touch with us at: gateway@offthefence.org.uk