Here at UNLH we welcome the opportunity to engage local residents in volunteering activities within the Library Hub. We offer a warm, safe and welcoming environment and you can volunteer for a short time or join our long term team of volunteers.
VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES:
We are seeking funding to support hotel residents who would like to be:
1. Hub café hosts to serve light refreshments, weekdays.
If you’d like to volunteer in our café we can sign you up to a Health & Hygiene Level 1 course in your own language.
You can volunteer for 1 hour or up to 4 hours weekly to suit your needs.
We can support you to learn new skills, meet local people and have something positive to do with your time.
At this stage we are asking if hotel residents are interested in being a café volunteer at the Upper Norwood Library Hub, if you are we’ll do our best to fundraise to support you to volunteer with us.
Benefits of volunteering
HELPING YOUR COMMUNITY
Volunteering has a real positive effect on the way the services can be delivered at UNLH, helping us to provide a far broader range of activities to the community that would otherwise not be feasible. The passion of the Library Hub volunteers contributes to a welcoming environment to those in the community. Libraries are used by a huge number of people including parents with young children, students, and people learning new skills. Libraries are now key in providing community services allowing people to make connections with each other, share ideas and build partnerships. The Library Hub also helps aid the work of charities in the area who use the Library Hub as a central point of operations including that of the ESOL programme.
HEALTH AND WELLBEING
Studies have identified that helping others can increases happiness, reduce depression and can improve both our mental and physical health. Such improvements can benefit you, your family, and your community. Volunteering can help provide purpose within a cause where you can see the impact on the community directly helping to make you feel more accomplished.
UPSKILLING
Volunteering can help you learn new skills, gain experience and take on a new challenge. Volunteering is a great way to develop skills and can help to keep you active. Volunteering provides a welcoming environment where you can learn these skills at your own pace without any pressure. The Hub provides great transferrable skills that employers find invaluable. For example, the ability to interact with members of the public, problem solving abilities and even event organisation skills. Volunteering helps build confidence in your abilities which can be useful in all aspects of life.
SOCIAL INCLUSION
It’s a great opportunity to meet new people, and to get involved with your wider community. Having a shared goal to work towards is the perfect way to bring people together from different backgrounds. Whether you have just moved to the area or lived here all your life and just want to get to know more people, volunteering could be perfect for you. As part of the Library Hub ethos of ‘equality, diversity and social inclusion’, these principles lie at the heart of how we work, communicate, support and deliver services to our community.