Volunteering Opportunities
What's on this page
- Support 4 Site Committee
- Hospital Eye Clinic Team
- Resource Centre
- Home Visiting
- Home Reading
- Equipment Loan Service
- Social and Leisure Activities
- Fund Raising
- Talks and Exhibitions
Support 4 Sight is a registered charity that provides assistance to visually impaired people, their families and carers within the West Essex area, operating out of our resource centre in Saffron Walden's town centre.
The many services that we provide to visually impaired people are delivered with the help of a dedicated team of paid members of staff, committee members and most important, not forgetting our volunteers who give up some of their valuable time to assist in any way that they are able.
If anyone has a few spare hours per week or even per month, and would like to help Support 4 Sight with some of its volunteering opportunities, why not have a look at the list below and if there is anything that leaps out and grabs your attention, then please get in touch with us and we will arrange a time most convenient to yourself, to come into Support 4 Sight's resource centre to see what we are all about.
Support 4 Sight Committee:
The positions held on the committee are a very important part of the running of a charitable organisation. It is always good to have a mix of trustees who can put forward their knowledge and experience in order to help make important decisions in the day to day running of the organisation. We are currently seeking more visually impaired committee members who are willing to share their knowledge , experiences, drive and enthusiasm of living with a visual impairment to help develop and promote the services that Support 4 Sight can offer. Sighted trustees with special skills or who are willing to take on specific task are also very welcome.
Hospital Eye Clinic Team
We are always looking for volunteers to assist with the help desk at the eye clinic held at Saffron Walden Community Hospital every Monday morning. The help desk volunteers play a very important role when it comes to 'signposting' registered and newly registered partially sighted or blind people in the right direction.
Newly registered people can often be quite daunted by this development and have no idea what facilities for the visually impaired are available. A range of useful equipment is on display and a range of leaflets outlining various eye conditions as well as points of contact for organisations available to assist with visual impairment.
If you think there is a lot to learn, please don't be put off by this; we don't expect people to learn everything. All our volunteers are given the opportunity to take part in training sessions and will receive support from members of staff and other volunteers who have also been through the learning process.
The Resource Centre
All the above positions are very important in the day-to-day running of our resource centre, as well as enabling us to organise and deliver all of our many services efficiently. If you feel that you have a good listening ear and have good communication skills, why not take this opportunity to come into the Centre and listen to some of our service users experiences and perhaps try and understand some of the difficulties that has to be overcome in the day-to-day living as a visually impaired person.
Administration also plays a very big part in the operations of organisations such as Support 4 Sight. A clear set of accounts has to be kept as well as maintaining a database of our service users, members and volunteers. This has to be up dated on a regular basis in order for us to keep accurate records, statistics and figures, all of which are very important when applying for funding. It also speeds up the process for sending out our Sightline and Volunteer Newsletter, monthly and quarterly.
Home Visiting
Home visits are a very important part of the service that Support 4 Sight provides. We cover the whole of the Uttlesford area. Not only is this a large area to cover, it is rural and has limited public transport services. To enable our service users who are house bound or unable to get into the resource centre in Saffron Walden, we arrange for two volunteers to visit them in their homes. We are trying to build a team of volunteers across the whole of Uttlesford and all volunteers receive training from Social Care the Police and Fire Services as well as being cleared through the Criminal Records Bureau. We have an ongoing programme of training on the equipment that is demonstrated to visually impaired people, and all travel expenses are reimbursed.
Home Reading
Support 4 Sight offers a Home Reading Service to visually impaired people of Uttlesford. Many of our service users are elderly and may live alone and find it difficult to get someone to read their personal correspondence. This usually means a long wait to get someone to read it to them and it could mean missing appointments or the paying of utility bills on time. Therefore, Support 4 Sight is looking for volunteers to read documents to those people who request this service.
Equipment Loan Service
Specialised equipment to assist visually impaired people can sometimes be quite expensive and until you try a particular piece of equipment, you are not going to know if it is going to work for you or if you are even going to get on with using it.
Support 4 Sight has a range of equipment at its resource centre that can be tried out, and if the users consider themselves to be a little nervous about using it in the presence of other people and feel that they would be more relaxed at home in their own environment, then Support 4 Sight can arrange a home visit to deliver, install and demonstrate this equipment. Items can be loaned for up to two weeks to see how you get on with them.
Social and Leisure Activities
All of the above activities and hopefully many more social opportunities is what Support 4 Sight is striving to achieve with the help of new and existing Volunteers. All of these events take a great deal of organisation and promoting. If you feel that you would like to get involved with organising these activities and/or taking part in them, please contact Support 4 Sight to get involved.
Fund Raising
Support 4 Sight depends heavily on its fund raising activities. If you would like to help with any of the above fund raising events, or you have any suggestions for raising revenue for Support 4 Sight, then this volunteering opportunity could be just what you are looking for.
Talks and Exhibitions
Throughout the year, Support 4 Sight gives many talks to local groups and organisations to raise awareness of visual impairment and the many difficulties that visually impaired people have to overcome. Support 4 Sight also takes part in many exhibitions to let people know of its presence and to increase the awareness of the services that it provides. If you enjoy talking to people and would like to assist in these demonstrations or help in any way with the services that Support 4 Sight provides, please complete the request form and email it back to Support 4 Sight or why not telephone or even better why not call into the Resource Centre in Saffron Walden.