We Have Opportunities for Individuals, Groups, Companies and Schools to Help Us Help Others…
If you join us you will meet lots of people and gain valuable experience, all while knowing that you are making a difference. Olive Branch Aid is essentially a foodbank, but we work to offer so much more. We are growing to meet the needs we see every day… and we desperately need people like you to volunteer. We are different. We cut through red tape, reach out and act with urgency to address the growing and diverse needs of the most vulnerable in our local communities.
Our Roles
We have volunteering roles to suit everyone, ranging from those for people with little experience to those for people with lots of experience. It is your enthusiasm and commitment that will make a huge difference. Many roles will be on our premises, but some can be done from home. We are located directly opposite Wandsworth Road overground station, with limited parking. Read on for opportunities – we really need your help.
Individuals
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Volunteer Guidance and Wellbeing Team
• Available
Are you a people person? We are looking for a sympathetic person who is happy working directly with and advising people, often facing very challenging circumstances. You will be meeting with and supporting families and individuals using the foodbank, liaising with other charities, local government and other parties in written correspondence and on the phone. You may also be involved in doing research and remote tasks, as well as keeping records and updating simple systems. Any experience or knowledge of benefits, housing or employment would be very valuable.
You will need to be familiar and happy to work with basic software packages. Any experience in a similar capacity would be hugely helpful. You will require a DBS check, which the charity will pay for once the role is established.
Volunteer Parcel Packing Team
• Available
You will be packing much needed food parcels for our service users as part of a team of 3–8 people. This involves collecting items from the stock shelves and putting them into parcel boxes, before ticking off the items on the stock-sheet. It may suit family members or friends to come together. Packing days are typically: Tuesday, 4–7pm (every week) and Saturday, 10am–1:00pm (every other week).
Volunteer Stocktaking Team
You will be checking current stock levels (food and household essentials), recording an inventory of stock and updating when new donations arrive, checking expiry dates and organising supplies in storage boxes for the packing team to find when they fill individual boxes. This role would suit family members or friends as well as individuals.
Volunteer Administration Team
• Available
Are you an admin ace? This role keeps us running and able to help the many people, families and schools that contact us every day. You will be supporting the foodbank with written correspondence, research and remote tasks aligned to the day-to-day operations of the foodbank. You will work alongside other team members to support key tasks such as donor correspondence and records, thank-you letters, advising the wider group on donation items and ongoing projects, updating spreadsheets and other related tasks.
Volunteer Collection and Delivery Team
• Available
This team has two distinct roles:
1. Food collection drivers – we need volunteer drivers to pick supplies up from food hubs and other distribution centres;
2. Parcel delivery drivers – we need volunteer drivers to take food parcels to service users that have difficulty coming to us. Typically, parcel deliveries occur once a month. We group the service users that each driver delivers to so that they are located in one of the four London boroughs we serve (Wandsworth, Lambeth, Croydon and Southwark).
Both roles need to have their own cars (a normal car is perfectly adequate). All collections and deliveries are outside the Congestion Zone users. You will need to inform your car insurer that you are volunteering for us and will need a level of fitness to lift crates and/or shopping bags.
Volunteer Collection Hosts
• Available
We need volunteers to manage the collection days when service users come to our premises to pick up their parcels. Collections are by appointment and typically occur over a morning session held twice a month.
Volunteer Social Media Team
When we set up, we did not expect to grow as fast as we have, or to have a website and social media accounts. We have them all now, but we really value new ideas and technical skill to keep the needs of the children, adults and families that we work with. Could you spare a few hours a week to help keep us in front of people who can help?
Groups
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Corporate Volunteering
There is so much we can offer in partnership with your organisation. We can offer team days volunteering, a partnership where you can make a real difference to our service users and see the benefits that your time and donations can make. We have testimonials from large companies that we work with to show that we are different and can match your energy and ambition. Learn more about corporate fundraising here.
Duke of Edinburgh
We have a number of young people who are pursuing the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze, Silver and Gold awards and we are delighted that working with us is helping with their achievements.
“I found it really interesting volunteering at Olive Branch Aid as part of my bronze Duke of Edinburgh award. I enjoyed seeing how the foodbank worked, and helping out the community.” – Duke Of Edinburgh Volunteer
Schools
Whilst schools are welcome to visit us, we can also come to you to explain our work, the reality of what we do and why we do it. We are happy to work with the Citizenship curriculum. We can also discuss working with you if the parents and carers of your pupils need support.
“Olive Branch Aid has supported us since Covid. Throughout Covid we delivered their foodbank parcels to all our free school meal children and this continued afterwards. A few families still need monthly support, especially with the current living crisis. A parent reached out to us regarding her friend who was really struggling, so we’ve even referred a family who are not at Telferscot. Thank you to OBA, as without you guys we would not be able to manage. We promote OBA in our weekly newsletter, which also allows families to contact OBA directly.”
– Telferscot Primary School
Tell Us More…
OLIVE BRANCH AID NEEDS YOU!
We emphasise respect for others’ self-worth and dignity, things that are often eroded in difficult times. As need grows our service is evolving, we are looking for new, ingenious, ways to help, advise and support people, beyond a desperately needed food parcel. Please get in touch, we are flexible and can work around you.
Donate to us today!
