Our Volunteer Stories
We work with over 100 volunteers every year who we recruit, train and match with our children and teenagers at mainstream activities. Our volunteers come from a wide variety of backgrounds and have different levels of experience working with children and teenagers with additional needs.
Every one of our volunteer and child matches has a story to tell and here you can find out more about two of our volunteers Rose and Yalmaz.
Meet Rose
Rose has been volunteering with Me2 Club for just over a year. She has previously supported another child and has been with her current match Charlotte for 8 months. The help that she provides means that Charlotte is thriving at Guides, working towards obtaining badges and making friends. Rose is also one of our volunteer ambassadors, which means that she attends Volunteer Induction Trainings to speak about her volunteering role and helps us at Me2 Club parties and fundraising activities.
We asked her to share some of her thoughts on volunteering for Me2 Club, this is what she had to say.
“The thing I most enjoy about my role is seeing my young person grow and get more confidence. One of the targets for my young person was for her to interact more with her peers. I feel she has made enormous strides with this and me being there to support has allowed her to have more time doing activities than she had before.
Volunteering with Me2 Club has taught me so much. I have learnt to be compassionate and kind to all people. I have also learnt to never underestimate or judge people. I have also learnt about the inner workings of a charity and have gained absolutely amazing skills and experience for my future.”
Binit’s Story
“Volunteering with Me2 Club you are building relationships, not just with your young person but also with their family, which is important because often they need emotional support too.
Doing this has helped me improve my social skills, get me out of the house and talk to people who from different age groups to me. I think the biggest personal benefit is that my experience with Me2 Club has made me more employable: when I was applying for support worker positions over summer, having the role on my CV was helpful in interviews and it’s also been useful to prepare me for a career in psychology.
I feel like there is a misconception that people think they don’t have enough time for volunteering, but what surprised me about helping Me2 Club is that volunteering has required a smaller time investment than I initially thought; for just 2 hours a week I’m making a difference – and certainly getting more out of the time than I would have otherwise.
My advice to those looking to volunteer is find something you have some kind of connection to. Then it never feels like a chore and is always enjoyable. Personally, I think it is a great experience and everyone could dedicate an hour or two hours out of their week for volunteering!”
Laiba’s Story
“My own sister struggles to attend mainstream activities without someone else’s assistance, and having that personal experience is partly what drove me to volunteer with Me2 Club. I’ve been partnered with Alex, who I support at ninja gymnastics. It’s inspiring to see him try so hard every week to learn new skills and interact with his peers and teacher, and his incredible persistence has been rewarded with the certificates and awards he’s earned.
I’m proud to know that I’ve played a small part in helping Alex become less dependent on his family and more comfortable being around new people. I’m also happy to know that the time I volunteer gives the family a little respite break.
Volunteering with Me2 Club isn’t just a one-way street; yes, it makes an impact on the young person you will work with – but the volunteer also benefits, becoming more patient and developing soft skills. Creating a relationship with my young person and seeing it develop over the sessions has been a gift and is something that I definitely recommend to others.”
Julie’s Story
“I’ve always been involved in volunteering and was initially attracted to Me2 Club because I loved the idea of supporting inclusivity by enabling children to join in mainstream activities and making a real difference to one child. I support Max at Cubs and am here to help him engage in the activities, encourage him when he struggles or loses interest and, maybe most importantly, support him making friends.
Taking this role has really opened my eyes to the importance of inclusivity, of play, of friendship and it’s a big impact on how I interact in people more broadly.
It’s a hugely rewarding role. Seeing Max thriving at his activity, building social skills, trying new things and getting more confident is lovely, and the thought that I’m playing a small part in this makes me so happy. I feel very lucky to be able to build a bond with this lovely, smart and caring young man, and hope that knowing that I’m here to support him also takes a little of the pressure and worry away from his mum.”
Meet Yalmaz
My name is Yalmaz and I am a 17-year-old sixth form student. After being introduced to Me2 Club by my sixth form and attending their training workshop, I was moved by the personalities and goals of the team and was urged to volunteer. I also found it to be a fantastic opportunity to gain experience with additional needs and help my community. I have been paired with a charming young individual, Kieran who attends Cubs. Together we take part in a whole range of activities from fencing to gardening work. I’m there to make sure Kieran stays on track with the activities whilst keeping his excitement bubbling, centring the focus onto the task and making it more engaging. It feels great to see him contributing to the activities increasingly by asking questions and sharing facts he knows about the topics. Noisy situations are difficult for Kieran, so working through them is always a challenge, but playing minigames to take a break and interacting with others at Cubs is great fun. I would absolutely recommend volunteering with Me2 Club for personal growth and helping wonderful young people.
