RESOURCES

I spent many happy Sunday mornings volunteering at a shelter for homeless cats, offering a paw for any tasks which needed doing. Mostly this meant mucking out, which got very smelly in summer, but it was extremely good fun and terribly therapeutic.  I would talk to the cats, and they would meow back to me (probably thinking “Who is this daft woman?”) and it would take an age to clean each cage, owing to these lengthy discussions. And yes, I fell in love – over and over again – and there were times when I shed a tear on the way home in the car, but of course, tears don’t help cats, whereas practical help does.

What amazed me was the number and range of volunteers who were involved in helping out. They really do show how it is possible for all of us to give something back and volunteer. Here are some examples:

·      Maureen worked four days a week and spent her fifth day at the shelter doing any tasks that was needed;

·      16 year old Scott was doing his Duke Of Edinburgh and spent 15 weekends at the shelter; he continually came back to visit and help out after that.

·      David did work experience from the local college 2 days a week

·      A local Personnel Director talked the shelter through any human resource problems, such as recruitment;

·      A mate of hers who worked in IT offered to get the shelter’s web site up and running;

·      One of the volunteers showed her PR department at work the posters the shelter intended to use for an open day and got feedback on how to make it more attractive and eye-catching.

·      A woman whose husband worked in different countries around the world making it difficult for her to get a job helped out for one day a week while she was in the area for a few months;

·      A local company came in and laid down paths in the grounds so that visitors could enjoy them and spend longer at the shelter;

·      A group of people doing community service gave the shelter a fresh coat of paint;

·      A retired teacher spent one day a week simply sitting with a number of nervous cats to help them get used to people. As time progressed and their confidence increased, she was able to groom them too.

·      One retired volunteer helped make tea and cakes on open days; she got her hubby to help organise the cark parking.

Many charities need help behind the scenes doing the routine jobs, so if you feel you won’t be able to deal with some of the more hands-on stuff, there will usually be something else you can do behind the scenes which really will make a difference. And of course, you don’t have to give back to a charity – you could spend some time listening to children read in a school, or taking someone who is sick for their appointment to a hospital. It may seem like a small thing to do at the time, but goodness, it means a lot to them.

So we finish this feature with a challenge for you:  How could you make a difference and give something back? 

Meow for now!