Volunteer Telford

As a call companion, you will make regular telephone calls to an older person experiencing loneliness and isolation.

These calls provide a lifeline of friendship for our older people, and the regular, warm, friendly chats and companionship provide a vital link with the outside world from which they have become isolated.

Over time, you and the older person you have been matched with will get to know each other well and together you will spend many hours full of fun, laughter and stories.

For many children and young people living in foster care can be unsettling but having someone there just for them to take them to the cinema, bowling, bike riding or for hot chocolate and cake can make all the difference.

You can make that difference!

We are looking for fun, reliable, and enthusiastic volunteers from all different cultures, backgrounds and experiences who have a genuine interest in making a difference in the lives of children and young people.

If you are passionate about wanting to help young people, you have 2.5 - 4 hours to spare once a month and are ready to commit to a minimum of a 2-year volunteering commitment, this role could be right for you.

You’ll meet with a child or young person who is in care, to do a fun activity together.

You’ll help the young person to do what they enjoy and provide them with a positive adult role model. The consistent friendship helps the young person to build self-esteem, confidence, and resilience allows then to experience some stability in what is sometimes a changing environment.

Our Telford and Wrekin service is looking for adult volunteers in the area to meet with a young person once a month on a long-term basis or for as long as they want an Independent Visitor (Independent Visitor is the official Volunteer Title). 

Our young people are aged between 8 to 18.5 years old and we have a number of young people already waiting for this service.

PODS Befriending Scheme is a network of trained parent volunteers who support other parents of children with special needs at the time of diagnosis or during challenging times related to their child’s disability.

Every Befriender is someone whose own child has special needs.

They know what it is like to cope with a new diagnosis and the challenges that come with it in the future. 

This service is free and confidential.

We support parents of children with any type of disability or special need. As a parent of a child with a special need or disability you have something unique to offer. Your own experiences mean that you can empathise with other parents and help them to make positive adjustments to the news of their child’s special need/disability or you can provide support when they are facing new challenges.

Many parents find it invaluable to have another parent to talk to who can understand and listen.

So why not become a PODS Befriender, support other local parents, and strengthen our local community?

Our weekly day centres in Telford take place in local community venues and provide transport, activities, a two course hot lunch and friendship for local older people. They are all run by volunteers with the support of an Age UK Coordinator.

We are looking for volunteers to join our existing teams to help set up the room, greet members with a warm welcome, prepare and serve refreshments, wash up and help with a range of social activities and tidy up at the end of day.