Volunteering for Mind

Posted Friday 9 November 2012

In the summer, I volunteered just two hours of my time to help with the Mind collection at Waterloo station.

From the initial point of contact with Maria, the Community Fundraising Coordinator at Mind, I was given a real sense of how much my help was  appreciated. This sense of enthusiasm was further reinforced on the day as Maria herself was there and helping with the various 2 hour collecting shifts, from 8am – 7pm! Real dedication, especially as she spent part of the day wearing a giant stress ball costume!

As this was my first collection I was slightly wary about the reactions that we might receive from the public. However, our presence seemed to generate a really friendly positive vibe. Lots of people were engaging with us and returning our smiles. Mind’s giant stress ball costume definitely added to the friendly ambiance and was quite an attraction for many small children, and many adults too!

From a personal perspective, I have been out of work and studying for the past 8 months with health problems. As a consequence I have suffered with low mood and anxiety.  By volunteering with Mind I was able to be involved in something outside of what has become a restricted social network. It also gave me with a sense of fulfillment and achievement. It was a really enjoyable couple of hours and I met some really great people. It felt great to be helping a charity that supports better mental health, as through my own experience I know how much support is valued and needed.

It was lovely to hear afterwards that we raised over £500, which could keep Minds legal advice service helpline open for a day, something really worthwhile for just 2 hours of my time.

Stephanie

If you'd like to volunteer at an event or collection, email the events team.

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1 Comment

• mindreader replied on 11 Nov 2012 at 13:48

  Just be sure folks that if you volunteer [for anything, anywhere] and are in receipt of benefits that you keep quiet about it because it will make you 'fit for work' in any assessment. People have lost benefits for doing voluntary work.
  However for social housing, it puts you into the 'deserving' category:
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/nov/09/deserving-families-council-housing-priority