Advice & Support Volunteer

We’re looking for enthusiastic volunteers to join our Advice and Support team and make a huge difference to the community - only 3 hours a week!

Can you help? Do you:

• have experience of giving advice and support and/or 

• have experience working with vulnerable people and are interested in learning about advice giving and/or

• not yet have experience but are interested in this area of work and can help with admin, making posters, speaking with guests

Hours: 10am to 1pm on Thursdays (3 hours per week) 

Location & Transport: Saint Michaels Church Hall, 37 Bounds Green Rd, London, N22 8SD (7 min walk from Wood Green tube station, 16 min walk from Bowes Park overground station)

About Bounds Green Food Bank:

Open since June 2020, we serve over 1,300 children and adults in the community. We are committed to improving lives by providing food and essential household items to build a healthy, hunger-free tomorrow. We strive to promote social inclusion by supporting people who find themselves in a crisis situation where they need assistance to feed themselves and their families.

The Advice and Support Team:

The team provides help with increasing income via benefits and other allowances, signposting to other support services and providing practical help to our guests. Some cases are one off but we also see guests over several appointments where there are ongoing issues.

The role:

• Work in a team and alongside an experienced advisor.

• Meet guests for their scheduled appointments

• Provide advice on benefit calculations and applications, debt, housing, support into work and/or training and other practical help.

• Provide support to guests on completing applications, making phone calls and writing emails.

• If you would like to volunteer to provide administrative support to the service instead of providing advice, we would love to hear from you too!

• You will receive training and be supported by an experienced advisor at all times 

Benefits:

• Give back to the community - one of the NHS’ 5 Ways to Wellbeing!

• Gain access to free workshops for volunteers and upskill on a range of topics (conflict resolution, mental health first aid, arts and crafts, and more)

• Join free social events for volunteers (such as picnics, walks, games nights and celebration events)

• Gain a sense of community and meet the huge team of volunteers