Volunteering in Kingston

As I sit here today resting after a rather busy and stressful week I wanted to share with you my latest volunteering experience. I had been pondering posting this one for a while, but now that I am actually working and in between that going to the hospital to visit one of our family members, time is precious and rather limited. 

My most recent volunteering experience was at a local Kingston charity called Age Concern. Below are some stories I have written from my experience there. These stories have been adapted to protect the privacy of the individuals but will give you an indication of the level of support this charity provides the local community.

Margaret is a rather sprightly 80 year old who is getting her hair done. Once a week clients of Age Concern can visit the hairdresser (and a podiatrist) for a discount rate. When she hears my Aussie accent she asks where I'm from. 'Adelaide, I've been to Adelaide many many years ago, beautiful place Adelaide'. She then starts to tell me how the Orient Express a ship she worked on transported migrants to Australia.'

Edith has lost her keys. She's been stuck at home for 3 days unable to make the doctors appointment or get food. At 86 years old you'd think the local council who own the flat she lives in would help but apparently they can't and so she's called for help. 

Jane calls concerned about her brother. He's recently had an operation and is due to be discharged from hospital in a couple days. There is no family nearby. 'How will he do his shopping, cleaning and how can we make sure he's ok?' she asks. Age Concern have an advice line and also can help with regards to domestic chores such as shopping and cleaning.

Bob calls telling me the driver is late. 'Have they forgotten me?' he asks. Bob is not alone as a lot of calls that come through are to make sure they haven't been forgotten. With little else to keep them occupied the oldies look forward to a day out at the day centre to enjoy some company, participate in various activities and have lunch.  

Jack... well Jack stands out as soon as you walk into the day centre. He's the resident Irish larrikin who loves a good banter. I can image that Jack was a bit of a lad back in the day and even now hunched over with age and leaning on a walking stick his mind is as sprightly as ever keeping the clients and workers there on their toes.

With the aging population charities such as this one will continue to need more and more support from us. The work they provide is invaluable. 

If you want to do something good, please don't ignore those around you. Help a local charity like Age Concern either via donation or your own time. If you see someone in the street or on the train that needs some help offer it, please just don't ignore.  

For more information about Age Concern Kingston you can visit their website at www.ageconcernkingston.org. 

Helping out the Homeless

I'm going to make an admission. 

I've always had a certain perception of those that are homeless. That is they are typically classified as alcoholics and druggies and hence that is the reason they are homeless.

However, today when I went to the Homeless Shelter my eyes were opened up. 

Of course, you will always get the dodgy ones and you can pick those a mile away, Russian mafia comes to mind on some of those, particularly the ones I saw today. And I'm sure a large percentage are in the place they are due to drugs, alcohol and crime.

But others....I was talking to a young woman last time I went in there and thought she was a volunteer, but today I found out she was homeless. A nice dressed and pleasant girl who is obviously well educated. If you passed her on the street you would not know she doesn't have a place to sleep tonight.

Another young lad carrying his possessions in his back pack, was just pleased to get a drink, shower and sandwich - where the hell are his parents or extended family. 

A tall chap who was helping us out was telling me he's studying to be a maths teacher and also working full time. He was telling me how challenging it is particularly as he's homeless. 

And then an old lady, neatly dressed and clean, whose face lights up with her smile, happy to sit back and have a cuppa and relax. I gave her some extra sandwiches to put in her bag that already carried all her worldly possessions.

I can't imagine their stories, their pasts and the present and why they are in the situation they are in. 

I know some are just bad people as we've been warned about a few, but others appear to be innocent victims of bad situations.

I will go back next week.

Volunteering in Richmond

One of the items on my ‘to do’ list has been volunteering work. Since I cannot legally work in the country I can at least contribute to society by doing something worthwhile (or try to).  

One of my fellow gym buddies recommended a homeless shelter in nearby Richmond called The Vineyard Community Centre which I dropped in to today to attend an afternoon tea for volunteers.

If you’re not aware Richmond is quite a posh area and I think the opening sentence on the Visit Richmond website summarises it ‘swimmingly’ as the posh people say... “Welcome to London's most attractive borough, which for hundreds of years has been a favourite retreat of Royalty, the rich and the famous.”

The bus ride to it from Kingston takes you through a very scenic road of green pastures, cobble stone roads and enormously large houses. You also cannot miss the well manicured polo ground.  I must say, it does seem odd going to Richmond to visit a homeless shelter and meanwhile the average resident probably earns well above the median wage in the UK and drives the latest Mercedes, BMW or Ferrari.

However, getting back to the topic at hand, the centre itself is located within the basement of a local church. It’s recently been renovated so looks more like a local cafe than what its real purpose is for.  It opens out onto a terrace with a large cottage garden.  It’s open for its residents so they can drop in, have a shower, get some food and relax in the atmosphere.  If you’re interested in knowing more you can visit their website at http://www.vineyardcommunity.org/ .

I met a number of different people, mainly volunteers who devote a lot of their time either working in the charity shop, in the cafe or in the garden amongst other things. One old lady in her 70’s looks after the vegie patch which apparently this year has not done very well due to the weather. Another very welcoming volunteer happily gave me a run down on some of the residents and who to avoid.

I have to be completely honest and say that other than participating in a fundraiser for an Adelaide charity called The Hutt Street Centre which was ‘Walk a Mile in my Boots’, I think that’s the correct term, I have not had anything to do with homelessness.  It can be quite confronting as there are a few odd people that you typically avoid when you see them down the street but I’m determined to at least give it a try and if it doesn’t work out then I’ll move onto the next one. Wish me luck, my first shift in the cafe starts next Thursday!

The cupcakes I baked for the Afternoon Tea. One person thought they were from Waitrose!