One of the biggest barriers to volunteering is the lack of time, or potentially the perceived lack of time. Don’t worry we understand, nowadays everyone is busy. Especially if you’re studying, you may or may not have a paid job and we’re certainly not asking you to miss the social stuff – that’s half the fun of being a student! 

But, what if we told you volunteering could be the social stuff? 

Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young people is the only Children’s Hospice in the East Midlands. We look after children and young people, along with their families. We rely heavily on financial donations, however, we also rely on the generosity of people like you who can donate your time. 

We have a range of different volunteering opportunities that you could get involved with, you could even bring your mates. Everything about what our volunteers do can be around meeting new people and having a fantastic time. 

Did you know we have roles such as helping with our eBay store (everyone loves a bargain so check it out) and you can meet all of our fantastic fundraisers and see the hustle and bustle of what really happens behind the scenes!  

Or you can volunteer some time to organise an event at your place of study. To quote Donkey in Shrek “Everybody loves cake” so why not raise awareness around what we do, make fellow students happy by selling cakes and you can channel your inner Paul Hollywood / Mary Berry – everyone’s a winner!

But if all of these sound like you’re still going to respond with “I’m just too busy” … then please see below: 

If you have a few minutes; go on skip one episode of your favourite show – you can always watch it later

  • sort through your wardrobe, boxes and toys — we’re always in need of donations in our shops. 
  • email your boss – we’re always working with local businesses and communities, you never know we may be able to support your colleagues through a difficult time. 
  • give us a “Like” – it can be as simple as sharing our social media posts, we rely on the communities to get the word out there. One quick click and we reach even more people who may need us. 
  • read through our website – you may even find a challenge or two to tempt you. 
  • tell your friends about us 

If you have a few hours; it’s time to stop scrolling – “they see me scrollin’ they hating” 

  • collection tins – could you pick up or drop off our collection tins 
  • organise a quiz night — see who said we’d skip the social stuff? 
  • make your community more aware – could you contact our volunteering team to discuss giving a talk to your local community
  • organise a bake sale — we’ve already discussed this – stop skipping and read above!

At Rainbows we would like to see more people like you, joining us, whether this is at one of our events or every week in one of our shops or at the hospice. Maybe, you can volunteer to support one of the ideas above. However, you feel you can get involved please contact us on volunteer@ rainbows.co.uk