I started volunteering at the Julias House shop for DofE and even from the first day of volunteering I was amazed at the things I was learning about the retail sector. Working at Julias house enabled me to improve many invaluable life skills and as well as benefiting the community it benefited me in many ways.
Benefits of volunteering
One of the ways volunteering benefited me is that it improved my mental health and wellbeing. It provided me with a sense of purpose and community, I remember my entire day feeling productive from just the thought of going to work and when I was helping, I felt very driven and motivated to help around the shop and thrived off the energy of it. Another benefit was that I got to meet and connect with new people, this allowed me to boost my confidence and self-esteem through talking to other volunteers and customers alongside boosting my mood even if I was drained from the school week I always looked forward to volunteering.
While benefiting me it also helped the local community and the donations to charity can be recycled/reused; more than 90% of clothes, books and 85% of donated electrical goods go on to have a new home or purpose. By boosting re-use and recycling, charity retail helps reduce waste that ends up in landfill.
Qualities and skills volunteering gave me
Volunteering at the shop helped me develop and learn many new skills other than boosting my confidence, it allowed me to improve on my teamwork and communication skills which are major qualities needed when not just working in the retail sector but also life in general. I was able to learn about customer service and problem solving by using my prior skills and adapting them to the given situation. It helped me improve my organisation and time management by getting to work on time, sorting out files and items like clothes, books, and toys on the store front. Perseverance was yet another skill I was able to improve on, especially during the busy hours and repetitive work. The list goes on.
What I did in the store
When I was working, I helped at the back of the store by pricing and hanging clothes and receiving, cleaning, and safely storing/organising donations for example if there where clothes that where for the winter in the summer they would be organised into a separate container and stored away for later use. At the front of the store, I was able to provide customer services when needed, I helped in organising and tidying clothes and other donations, vacuuming, and closing the store at the end of the day and I was lucky enough to assist in creating attractive displays throughout the store which allowed me to bring out my creative side.
What I enjoyed about volunteering
I enjoyed interacting with new people and the people working in the store, talking to them allowed me to build new connections and friendships that I really appreciated. I enjoyed organising the clothes as it made me feel very accomplished afterwards as well as creating the displays. Another thing I loved was getting ready to go as it made me feel very purposeful and motivated me.
Overall, volunteering is a wonderful thing to do as it not only helps your local community but also benefits your mental health and improves multiple skills alongside learning many new retail skills. I feel like this is an experience I will appreciate and value in my later life too.
