Make Volunteering Your New Year Resolution

FeaturesWagging Tales

New Year, new resolutions, new you.  Why not make 2019 the year that you resolve to volunteer for Guide Dogs?  Volunteering is the one New Year resolution you will want to keep.

Almost 2 million people in the UK are living with sight loss and of this 180,000 rarely leave their homes alone.  Guide Dogs aims to reduce their isolation and help them feel independent and able to live their lives the way they choose.  We aim for a world where having sight loss is no barrier to living an independent life and fulfilling all the hopes and dreams that sighted people have.

Many people see volunteering for a charity as just collecting outside a supermarket. But if you volunteer for Guide Dogs you will find that it is so much more.  These are just some of the roles that we are recruiting for across the whole of North and West Yorkshire:-

  • My Guide Sighted Guide- support someone in your community who is living with sight loss by enabling them to get out and about, increasing their independence and confidence. It will take up around 2-3 hours of your week, usually weekdays.
  • Puppy walking- what could be better than raising one of our precious pups in your own home for the first year of its life and helping to prepare it to become a life changing guide dog.
  • Drivers- Our volunteer drivers support our guide dog owners by driving them if they are unable to travel independently.
  • Fundraisers- Guide Dogs rely almost entirely on the generosity of public donations. Our volunteer led support groups organise events and collections in their local area.   There many different roles available- it’s not all about buckets!  It’s a great way to meet people in your community and all roles are very flexible in terms of time and commitment.

Volunteering Consultant for Guide Dogs Leeds, Ruth Wood explained “We rely on volunteers and would be unable to deliver our services without their support.  You don’t have to be a dog lover – we have a wide range of roles to suit everyone. From those who care for our dogs full time to those who come out occasionally to hold a bucket or cheer on marathon runners.  By volunteering for Guide Dogs you’ll be helping to make a huge difference to the lives of people with sight loss. But that’s not all – you’ll be part of a great team, you’ll be learning new skills and we promise you’ll have a lot of fun!”

Volunteer Margaret added “I joined Guide Dogs when I retired 10 years ago, assisting with all their press and broadcast media publicity.  The role suits me as it is something I did in my working life and I can spend as much or as little time as I like on it.  Most of all I have made friends with a great bunch of people who make me feel valued and appreciated. I can thoroughly recommend volunteering for Guide Dogs.”

Guide Dogs gives role specific training and pays all out of pocket expenses.

To  get more information or to find out what you can do in your area, visit the guide dog website www.guidedogs.org.uk/volunteer where you can also submit an application, or contact your local Guide Dogs Volunteering Consultant, Ruth Wood at;

ruth.wood@guidedogs.org.uk or on 0345 1430210.

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