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Volunteering

Looking for volunteering opportunities? You’re in the right place!

We’ve got a load of different options for you. Maybe you want to get some admin experience or you’re recently retired and want to give back as a coffee morning volunteer, befriender or gardener.

You don’t have to be a Yorkshire Housing customer to volunteer with us either, anyone can do it!

A customer called Roger playing the accordion to two women in a community centre.

Volunteering opportunities

Take a look below and if you like the sound of one of the opportunities or just want to make a general enquiry about volunteering with us, just click the button to fill out the form. We’d love to hear from you!

Get in touch
Man and woman sat next to each other laughing. The man is wearing a checked shirt and the woman is wearing a rope print shirt and mustard yellow headscarf.

Take a look at our current volunteering opportunities below. Just give them a click to reveal more info. 

This role involves helping our elderly customers to take part in social trips. Many of our customers are feeling isolated and want to get out into the community, but don't feel confident in booking trips without support.

This includes:

  • Interacting with our elderly customers to see who wants to visit places of local interest.
  • Liaising with Dial-a-Ride and completing forms for individual customers.
  • Obtaining info on coach trips and about local places of interest and promoting it to customers.
  • Booking Dial-a-Ride and accompanying customers to places of interest.
  • Obtaining funding for those with financial issues that normally couldn't afford to go on trips - we can often provide funding for this.
  • Flexible timings to suit you.

Are you local to the Greatwood & Horseclose Community Centre in Skipton? 

Are you someone that can just 'get stuff done' and do you want a chance to help influence and shape what happens in the local community?

The community centre is looking for someone local with passion and enthusiasm, as well as these skills, to join their team of trustees. Your role will be to help support, maintain and protect the centre for its future development. 

You don't need any specialist experience, or have been a trustee before, as all training will be provided. They just need people that care and want to make a difference. You must be over 18. 

Are you local to the Greatwood & Horseclose Community Centre in Skipton? 

Do you like planning, organising and are good with note taking and admin tasks?

The community centre is looking for someone local with passion and enthusiasm, as well as these skills, to join their team of trustees. Your role will be to help support, maintain and protect the centre for its future development. 

You don't need any specialist experience, as all training will be provided, as well as handover from the current secretary. However, experience of administration and organising tasks is helpful, and you must be over 18. 

Our wellbeing café runs once a month and provides a space for people to grab a brew, a snack and take part in some creative tasks, games and activities, as well as connecting with others.

We're currently looking for a volunteer who can help us to make light snacks and refreshments for  the participants of the café. You'll also be tasked at prepping and tidying the kitchen space after use and making sure no one is short of a brew!

Ideally you'll have some experience of serving and preparing food, and have a valid level 2 Food Hygiene Qualification or be willing to redo this, if it's expired. We can cover the cost of this. 

Volunteers would need to be free on the first Wednesday of every month, between 12.30pm - 3.30pm, but you must be over 18 to apply.

Our wellbeing café runs once a month and provides a space for people to grab a brew, a snack and take part in some creative tasks, games and activities, as well as connecting with others.

We're looking for friendly volunteers who can welcome people to the wellbeing café, get them set up and settled in. Volunteers will help people feel comfortable, support them in any activities they would like to do and provide friendly chat.

We'd like someone that's passionate, friendly and willing to get stuck in. You just need to be able to talk to others. listen and be a friendly face for those attending.

Volunteers would need to be free on the first Wednesday of every month, between 12.45pm - 3.15pm, but you must be over 18 to apply.

Coffee mornings give our customers a place to come together over a brew and a chat. There's no structure to a coffee morning other than to keep the hot drinks flowing and the biscuits handy, and be prepared for a natter of course!

We're looking for volunteers who can welcome people, get them settled and help make the all-important brews at one of our coffee mornings at Forest Court. (Tea is just as welcome as coffee, Yorkshire Tea of course!)

What's involved?

You'll help our customers feel comfortable, this might mean sitting for a chat or running small activities if there's a need. Quizzes and bingo always go down well!

You'll help set up the session by getting the cups ready and the kettle boiled. Then at the end you'll make sure everything's washed, clean and tidy. 

The coffee mornings happen twice a month, on a Thursday. They start at 10am and roughly last about 2 hours, depending on any extra activity happening. Volunteers are needed between 9.30am - 12.30pm to set up and clear down. You must be over 18.

Coffee mornings give our customers a place to come together over a brew and a chat. There's no structure to a coffee morning other than to keep the hot drinks flowing and the biscuits handy, and be prepared for a natter of course!

We're looking for volunteers who can welcome people, get them settled and help make the all-important brews at one of our coffee mornings at Garth Court. (Tea is just as welcome as coffee, Yorkshire Tea of course!)

What's involved?

You'll help our customers feel comfortable, this might mean sitting for a chat or running small activities if there's a need. Quizzes and bingo always go down well!

You'll help set up the session by getting the cups ready and the kettle boiled. Then at the end you'll make sure everything's washed, clean and tidy. 

The coffee mornings happen twice a month, on a Wednesday. They start at 10.30am and roughly last about 2 hours, depending on any extra activity happening. So volunteers are needed between 10am - 1pm to set up and clear away at the end. You must be over 18.

FAQs

It’s really easy to do – just fill out this online application form! If you’re not a Yorkshire Housing customer we’ll collect two written references and, depending on the role you’re looking at, we might need to do a DBS check too.

A DBS check is a way for organisations to see if you’ve got a criminal record, to help decide whether you’re a suitable person to work or volunteer for them. 

Whether or not you need one depends on the role. If you’re working with vulnerable people then yes, we’ll need to do a DBS check but don’t worry, we’ll cover the costs.

 

Most volunteers give about two hours a week. Each role is different though and it’s more about what you can offer. Some roles need someone there at the same time each week, but others are more flexible.

Everyone!

We’ve got a lot of different volunteers at Yorkshire Housing. Some of them are students, some are retired and we’ve got everyone in between. Our opportunities are really flexible so most people find something that suits them.

No – most of the places where we need volunteers are easy to get to on public transport. We cover the cost of your travel and, if you do volunteer somewhere where you need to drive to then we cover the cost of that too.

It depends on the role but we give you some basic training if it’s needed. For most roles you just need oodles of enthusiasm!

If you want to do some more training, you can get in touch with us or take a look at what Doing Good Leeds can offer you.  

Nope! Everyone is welcome to volunteer with us.

Another one that depends on the role. We’ve usually got quite a few different roles available.

Maybe you fancy doing some admin, helping at one of our coffee mornings or maybe gardening’s more your thing.

Check out our current opportunities. And, if you’re looking for a career at Yorkshire Housing, you can find out more about our current vacancies on our careers page.

Yes! We don’t want you to be out of pocket to volunteer with us.

We’ll cover your transport costs, you’ll just need to agree it with the manager first – and keep hold of your receipts too.

We don’t have enough space to answer this! You'll learn loads of new skills like thinking on your feet, interpersonal skills, problem solving and leadership to name a few. 

Yes! We’ve usually got some admin roles open which means you can work from home or wherever you like!

We’ve got sites all over Yorkshire. You can see where our current roles are here.

We like this question! It’s been found to improve mental health, employability skills and your sense of self-worth but it also helps people in your community.

Giving a bit of time can have such a huge impact on our customers, so thank you if you’re thinking about volunteering with us!

Digital Dewsbury

Our customers at Tentercroft Court in Dewsbury asked for some help with their digital skills. With technology moving so quickly a few of them had devices they weren’t fully sure how to use or were a little nervous about using.

One customer’s husband had always been the techy one and when he sadly passed away she was left not knowing how to speak to their daughter and family in Wales. She knew her husband always used WhatsApp but she was nervous in case she broke it so struggled to get in touch with her loved ones, meaning she felt disconnected during a very difficult time.

Our digital champions showed her how to use her devices and she’s now a WhatsApp whizz, with the app set up on her home screen. After the session she popped into one of the digital drop-ins and told the champions how she’d just video called her daughter for the first time!

Get in touch

Hopefully you know a bit more about volunteering with Yorkshire Housing now but we’re always happy to answer any questions you’ve got. Drop us an email on volunteering@yorkshirehousing.co.uk and we'd be happy to help.