Volunteering

We are always keen to hear from anyone who is interested in joining our team!

In particular, we are looking for volunteers for the following roles:

• Helpers at our outreach events - to welcome people, serve hot drinks, help with sighted guiding, etc.
• Telephone befrienders - to commit to ringing a person/people at the same time each week for company and friendship.
• Fundraisers - especially if you have experience of fundraising within a charity environment, writing grant applications, etc.
• Board members - people to join our Board of Trustees, which is responsible for the governance of the charity. We are particularly interested in hearing from people with lived experience of sight loss.

About you

No prior experience of sight loss or working with people with sight loss is required, as full training and support will be given. For our outreach events and befriending roles, we do need people who can commit regularly to the same day/time each week/month, please.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks (previously known as CRB or Criminal Records Bureau checks)

Please note that as part of our Safeguarding policy we conduct Enhanced DBS checks on all staff and volunteers at Wakefield District Sight Aid. This means we will need to ask you for certain identification documents. We do not keep copies of these documents and anything you send us for the purposes of a DBS check will be securely destroyed.

Expenses policy

Travel to and from the outreach events to a maximum of 25 miles radius is claimable. Mileage is payable at a rate of 45p per mile for cars and vans, 24p for motorcycles and 20p for use of a pedal bike, or full reimbursement of public transport costs.

Find out more

If you or anyone you know would be interested in joining our friendly team, please contact Nicola Ellis (Finance and Outreach Manager) on 01924 215555 or operations@wdsa.org.uk, for an informal chat or to find out more about the roles on offer and how you can help.