Office Volunteering for Christian Aid
I’ve been a Christian Aid supporter since I was 19, when I first did house-to-house collecting in Southsea – a few years ago! So, when I retired from university administration in 2013, I looked around for somewhere to volunteer and use my skills.
Since October 2014 I’ve been helping in the Oxford Office with a huge variety of tasks, some short, some long, some easy, some more tricky. It is good to feel that twice a week I might be making a difference to the lives of the poorest people in the world, though sometimes it’s hard to make that connection!
On the South East and East Anglia regional page you will come across notices of forthcoming events which I have posted, after composing them with a moderately complicated piece of in-house software. They are then sent to the web team, who put them up on the page, and even kindly correct them when it turns out the time or the place is not quite right.
At the time of writing, we are looking forward to a visit from Zeina Zakar, from Lebanon. She is working with Palestinian and Syrian refugees through Association Najdeh, the partner organisation we support. Eight of the items on the web page cover that visit, which demonstrates how well local Christian Aid groups are taking advantage of this opportunity to share the news of her vital work.
I happily perform other tasks such as researching on the internet, filling envelopes for mailings, gathering up resources for events, typing up reports, drafting letters, regularly sending out material for church magazines, and compiling useful lists of contacts, always (of course) respecting the rules of GDPR!
All volunteers are well looked after in Christian Aid, with regular formal review meetings, newsletters, and cups of coffee! If you’d like to find out more about ways of volunteering, contact the Oxford Office:
oxford@christian-aid.org or call 01865 246818.
Kate Dobson