So your volunteers, they work for free?

Something I get asked on a regular basis and most frequently accompanied by the tag line “but why?“.

Why indeed, why would someone give up their free time to staff a shop and carry out tasks that others would demand a handsome pay packet at the end of the month for?

I used to wonder myself but in the past 4 months since I started my deputy managers job at Oxfam I’ve come to realise there’s a whole host of different reasons that motivate someone to walk through that door and offer their time and effort for no monetary value in return.

There’s the obvious one , popular with the youngsters and those who have been out of the working game for some time , whereby they can gain the precious experience many paid jobs insist you should have on your C.V but don’t offer you up any chance of being able to require.

We get through a lot of volunteers unfortunately because of that one but it is however lovely to see someone achieve the paid employment they genuinely deserve because you gave them the chance to discover their strengths and gain the new skills and knowledge they needed to succeed.

And then there are those for whom it isn’t about having a job to go to, it’s the sociable side that appeals , it’s a chance to get out and meet people, make new friends, rejuvenate old skills that come in useful and maybe discover some that maybe they didn’t realise they had.

It’s a place where nothing is a barrier be it age, gender, race, sexuality, illness or disability, everyone is treated equally as the unique person they are and everyone looks out for one another like a great big extended family.

Money, it pays the bills and buys all our things that’s certainly true but it can’t purchase the joy of seeing someone bloom and gain confidence in themselves that might have otherwise felt very alone.

So hopefully my explanation makes the concept of volunteering not seem like quite such an odd thing to do after all.

For some it’s not just about what they receive, it’s sometimes about what it gifts them with in return.