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Showing posts with the label Volunteering

Why People Volunteer

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By McDonald, T.   |  Date 3 of August 2019 Charities are taking over the high street and all of them have volunteers. What kind of people volunteer and why?  While I have been volunteering, I took note of the people and the reasons why they volunteer. I found four main categories of people in the volunteer sector: academics wishing to gain hands on experience; people wish to give something back to the community; peers who wish to support one another through an experience; people looking to escape loneliness. Academics Gaining Experience I found academics volunteering for one main reason: experience. For instance, the volunteer police force gives people experience to go with their degrees in psychology and criminology. In a different type of volunteer role, students in management gain experience of how an organisation is run through volunteering in shops or charities aimed at supporting people with special needs. Charities have lots of interesting positions; subseq

Can Volunteering In A Shop be Good For Web Developers?

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By McDonald, T. | Date 1st of December 2017 You may have wondered what goes into building a webpage or thought about becoming a web developer yourself. If so, you may have noticed that web developers and technology businesses encourage workers to volunteering in the community because it can be a valuable experience. Can volunteering in a charity shop improve web development understanding if a shop is thought of like a webpage even though volunteering in one will not make anyone a web developer? Is thinking of a webpage like a shop useful? Shops have services going on in the background such as sorting products much as a website will sort data. The back room is unseen by the shopper, yet remains a crucial part of the service much as a server is critical to a webpage. In addition, shops have a window, which displays the services much as a landing page does for a website. Service users must be able to see what the shop has for sale just as a landing page needs to clearly di

How Volunteering can Change Your Life and Boost Your Career.

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By McDonald, T.   |  Date 21 of November 2017 Sometimes life can leave us with time on our hands and nothing to fill the void. In other cases, a person may just need a chance to get started or restarted in working life, or maybe, like me, you spend all your time in front of a screen coding and studying and simply need a break. In any case, some suitable activity can provide the experiences all people need in order to achieve a feeling of fulfilment. Volunteering is one such activity that can provide much more than people realise. With this in mind, what can someone expect from volunteering? A volunteer can expect a variety of duties and benefits. Duties in the shop A volunteer can expect a variety of activities. The standard model of a charity shop is to have clothing, housewares and book sections with the intension of providing quality second hand goods in order to support a charity financially. Standard duties in a charity shop can vary but mainly involve sorting and

Three reasons why I like volunteering for local IT charities.

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by McDonald, T. | Last updated 30th of November 2017 You may have noticed the huge numbers of charities in the UK or supported a charity by donating to it, but have you ever wondered what it would be like to volunteer for a local charity? Although collecting money is important in its self, there are many more exciting and potentially life changing roles within most charities. I have volunteered on and off for most of my life because I get so much out of this underestimated experience. I like volunteering for the following reasons: supporting others with their technology needs makes me feel a part of the community; I get to meet interesting people at promotional events; it shows a perspective employer I have a willingness to work and use skills I am learning at university in a positive and constructive way. Firstly, I like volunteering because supporting others with their technology needs makes me feel that I am a part of the community. For instance, in my role as Digital