NICE as a charity has an incredible impact on my family, in particular through supporting my younger cousin. Therefore, when the opportunity arose for me to get involved doing some volunteering it was truly the least I could do in comparison to all the love and support they provided to families, like ours, and so many others. I have been volunteering for NICE since the beginning of 2021 as a Social Media Ambassador, due to Covid-19 I have done all my volunteering from home and became a ‘remote’ volunteer. Within this role I provide digital support, engage with their social media and share my thoughts and ideas regarding their online presence. In addition to this, I donated and promoted a raffle to run on their Facebook page to help with some fundraising. I have absolutely loved this experience, when I had to give advice and feedback on their current website, as it allowed me to share my thoughts on how they could improve but also as I analysed the website, I got to learn a lot more about NICE and the work they do within the community.
Throughout my volunteering I have further developed some critical skills such as, social media strategy, critical thinking, and time management which I now use daily. So, even if you need some extra experience on your CV volunteering is an amazing way to do that. I currently live in South Wales, therefore I am far away from where NICE is based but that hasn’t gotten in the way of volunteering! I have done all my volunteering online, through emailing back and forth with the incredible fundraising team, we catch up a few times a month and discuss any upcoming tasks that I would be able to work on.
I have always had an interest in charity work but always felt I would not have time to fit it in, but I was very wrong! There is no pressure at all whilst volunteering for NICE and you are there for offer your time to the charity but at your convenience, currently I am working 2 jobs whilst volunteering and I am still managing to do all 3 and have time to spare! It means a lot to me that I can show my support although I have volunteered ‘from home’ so far during the pandemic but it has shown that volunteering roles can be adapted to any situation. I do most of my volunteering on weekdays, sometimes it as little as 10 minutes and it so easy to fit in to my daily routine.
Especially during Covid-19, social media became the forefront of fundraising and so even interacting with social media posts and raising awareness can help a small charity like NICE reach more people. Volunteering can be as simple as this and I truly believe everyone has something to offer.
It’s so important to reach out to charities in order to volunteer as it can not only build on your skills, but even by doing small tasks every few days, or even weeks, you can still have a significant impact on NICE and the families they support. I will continue to offer my support to NICE for as long as I possibly can and over the last few months I have had the pleasure of seeing my contribution to the charity and every second has been so rewarding to me.
