Volunteering

Gill’s Story

December 20, 2023Blog Hospice Stories Volunteering

Gill recently gave two days of volunteering in our Bramley Retail Hub through her workplace, Co-Operative Bank. She shares her experience:

“I’m Gill from the Co-Operative Bank and I recently swapped my day job in recruitment and volunteered at St Gemma’s Hospice’s Retail Hub in Bramley, Leeds for two days.

The St Gemma’s Retail Hub sorts donated items ready to be distributed amongst their 25 charity shops across West Yorkshire or sold on eBay or other online channels.

On arrival, l had a warm welcome and an enlightening tour of the Hub from ecommerce manager, Cherie. There is an eBay team who sift through potentially valuable items that they think they may be able to list and re-sell to maximise the amount a donation makes towards patient care – such as various collectible items of bric a brac, jewellery, furniture, designer clothing and electricals.

Then there are team members who sell items on other ecommerce platforms, coordinate St Gemma’s Christmas cards, sift through general bric-a-brac and who sort through items of clothing generously donated by Joe Browns to support the Hospice. There are also PAT testers to ensure the safety of electrical items including Christmas trees, stereos, gaming consoles etc., that are intended for resale. It really is an interesting place and a hive of activity!

I was then introduced to Dave, Andrew and Steve who are regular and dedicated volunteers on the book team and whom I worked with for two days. I really enjoyed working with these guys, plus they fuelled my productivity with a constant flow of tea which was good.

A continual stream of books is donated daily by the public, often surpassing what can be stored and sold in St Gemma’s charity shops, so lots of the books are sold via online platforms.

I was tasked with scanning or typing in the ISBN code on the back of each book. We also looked out for any books that appeared potentially valuable; these were passed over to eBay Team for them to research and list on eBay. The eBay team are currently listing a donated copy of The Hobbit from 1959!

I scanned a grand total of 1461 books – it was quite addictive!

The two days went really fast and I really enjoyed myself. If anybody is looking to volunteer in Yorkshire, I would highly recommend spending time at St Gemma’s. They are a fantastic team of hardworking and friendly individuals, who are dedicated to making a meaningful impact and will always welcome volunteers.”

If your workplace offers volunteering hours, come and spend them with us! Pop our team an email on corporate.volunteering@st-gemma.co.uk to get started.

A Festive Thank You to our Volunteers!

December 11, 2023Blog Volunteering

We recently welcomed almost 150 volunteers across two days to join us at the Hospice for our annual festive thank you events.

There was a hot 3-course lunch and fun quiz, with lots of friendly competition! Laura from our very own fundraising team sang, providing brilliant entertainment. We also awarded two long-service awards and some of the Hospice Leadership Team gave updates, reflecting on 2023 at St Gemma’s.

These events are one of the ways we show our gratitude to our fantastic volunteers – we simply couldn’t be here without our dedicated volunteers. Each year, our volunteers give tens of thousands of hours across the Hospice and our retail operations.

Thank you to Manning Stainton and Daniel Footwear who kindly sponsored the events. We’re so grateful to them as well as our corporate volunteers, staff from across the organisation who helped out, and to our wonderful Bistro team who prepared the delicious food.

Charlotte, St Gemma’s Volunteer Coordinator, said: “Volunteers are at the heart of St Gemma’s and there’s no way we could do what we do without them. Our volunteers give their time across almost all parts of the Hospice and our retail operation. There’s so much skill within the team and it’s a pleasure to bring many of them together for these events.”

We received lovely feedback from our volunteers, including Sarra who generously gives her time volunteering in our gardens: “I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone involved in [the] volunteer lunch. It was so much more than I was expecting. I felt extremely blessed to be invited and experience such warmth and thanks. I love volunteering in the gardens and I’m very passionate about them. Knowing we are making a difference is so humbling and inspiring. Huge thanks again.”

We’d love to see you at our next volunteer event! Visit www.st-gemma.co.uk/volunteering to learn more and start your volunteering journey today.

Our New Vegetable and Therapy Garden

September 4, 2023Blog Latest News Volunteering

We’re delighted to introduce our new vegetable and therapy garden in the Hospice grounds.

This project has transformed an area of the gardens to expand our kitchen garden and create a new therapeutic area for patients and visitors to enjoy. It incorporates a vegetable patch, fruit tree orchard and raised planting beds, and was designed by garden volunteer, Sarra.

Sarra started volunteering for the Hospice two years ago, generously giving her time in our gardens in Moortown. She later began studying Garden Design Level 1 at Shipley College and for her course project she needed to design a real garden. As luck would have it, this area of the Hospice gardens was in need of redevelopment.

As part of her studies, Sarra worked closely with Garden Team Leader, Andy to collaborate and develop a plan for the area. The guiding vision for the vegetable and therapy garden was “A place to provide therapy, create sustainability and leave a lasting legacy.” According to Sarra’s course tutor, this is exactly how garden design should be – working together to create a vision and a living plan which can be adapted during the build.

The garden in progress

A real team effort was required to clear the area; fellow volunteer John did some of the real heavy lifting and commented “who needs a gym?!”. The garden team of staff and volunteers and the Hospice maintenance team worked tirelessly to bring the plan to life. We’re also incredibly grateful to Shanco, who kindly supplied materials and additional labour.

As part of the plan was to create a therapeutic garden for patients, these areas needed to be able to accommodate wheelchairs and beds. Planting areas also needed to be at a height where patients can be seated and tend to the beds. This has been realised in the finished design, with a large ‘U’-shaped vegetable patch.

The completed vegetable and therapy garden

We can’t wait to see how the area matures and to see our patients enjoying the therapeutic benefits of gardening. The first produce from the new vegetable patch has already been harvested and delivered to Melvin’s Bistro, ready to be cooked up for our patients and visitors.

Donna’s Story

May 30, 2023Blog Hospice Stories Volunteering

Donna joined the St Gemma’s family as a volunteer, supporting our charity shops for five and a half years, and now she is employed in our retail team. This is her story.

Donna was new to Leeds and felt isolated at home, caring for her autistic son who she was home schooling. This situation made it difficult for Donna to find employment in her profession as an Early Year’s Practitioner and she found her mental health was deteriorating. She wanted to meet new friends and get out and about.

Donna put a message out on the Leeds Place Facebook community group, and one of our current volunteers responded and said – have you thought about volunteering in a charity shop? So Donna called into our Halton shop and had a taster session to see if it was something that she would enjoy.

She started volunteering in the Halton shop a few days a week back in 2017, and really enjoyed it. Donna went on to volunteer for 5 and a half years!

Donna’s volunteering helped her to gain new skills and confidence, and she is now employed with St Gemma’s as a Bank Deputy Manager.

Donna says: “Volunteering gave me flexibility and has really helped my mental health. The staff and team really helped me to gain confidence.”

Thank you for giving your time Donna and sharing your story – we’re lucky to have you on our team! To find out more about volunteering or being part of our team, please visit our online recruitment platform.

Graham’s Story

May 23, 2023Blog Hospice Stories Volunteering

Graham Bennett and his wife Denise Bennett have kindly given their time to support St Gemma’s for many years, using their specialist knowledge of classical music to raise funds in the community for patient care at St Gemma’s. This is their story.

Graham has had a life-long passion for classical music. He opened the Classical Record Shop in Leeds in 1968, running the business for 30+ years. He also founded Sinfonia of Leeds chamber orchestra in 1973 and conducted it for the next 17 years.

Once he retired, Graham started to volunteer for St Gemma’s Hospice at the Street Lane shop. He concentrated on the music, CDs, books and sheet music. One day he had a call from the St Gemma’s Retail Hub in Bramley, as they had found several bags of classical CDs and they understood he might know a bit about these and the best way to sell them.

Graham and his wife Denise went to talk to the Head of Retail with an idea for Graham and Denise to reach out to their music contacts within the Leeds area, to explore possible opportunities to set up a classical CD pop-up shop.

“To date we have raised £12,120.”

Graham explains:

“Our original goal was to raise as much money as we could selling this impressive donation of classical CDs for St Gemma’s. However, we soon realised that the audience were very appreciative of the CDs we were bringing to the concerts and that all the money was going to their local hospice St Gemma’s. We were then very fortunate to be offered the late Lord Harwood’s CD collection to continue our fund raising for St Gemma’s.

“With the success of the pop-up shop, we then had a chat with Jane Kent and Jason the warehouse manager to formulate a possible opportunity to carry on the pop-up shop for as long as we could… Jason has been brilliant arranging the collection of CDs to the Hub so we can sort through them at the warehouse.

“We couldn’t have achieved what we have to date without the amazing support of the following music societies including, Leeds International Concert Season, Leeds Baroque and Leeds Lieder and their supporters and audiences. To date we have raised £12,120.”

If you have classical CDs or DVDs you could donate to support Graham and Denise’s pop-up shops, please contact the St Gemma’s Retail Hub on 0113 2362547 or drop them off at 54 Waterloo Lane, Bramley, Leeds LS13 2EL.

Marion’s story

September 20, 2022Blog Hospice Stories Latest News Volunteering

Marion has been volunteering in our Pudsey shop for 18 years. What started as a simple conversation with the shop manager quickly turned into a way of life for Marion! This is her story:

Marion’s husband started volunteering in the shop when he retired and Marion would come and pick him up and pop into the shop. After getting to know Marion, the shop managers asked her if she would like to try volunteering too. Until that point, it had never entered her mind – but she hasn’t looked back since!

“I’m among friends and it keeps me active.”

Marion has seen the shop get busier and busier over the years. People will come in and have a chat whilst shopping; she loves the community feel of the shop. And volunteering really helped Marion after her Husband died: “I wouldn’t know what to do if I didn’t come here. I’m among friends and it keeps me active.”

A shop with rails of clothing. A woman is working at a till in the background

Shop volunteer Marion busy at work managing the till

Marion volunteers with us every day, serving on the till, sorting and steaming in the backroom, or whatever else is needed. Shop manager Becki said “Marion gives me so much support, not just by volunteering every day but with the knowledge she has about the shop and the needs of the local community.”

Fellow volunteer Rita said, “Marion is amazing, she has supported St Gemma’s tirelessly all day, 6 days a week whatever the weather for as long as I have been volunteering.”

We really appreciate our volunteer support and feel really proud to share this story with you. Thank you for everything you do Marion!

Like Marion, you may not have even thought about volunteering in a charity shop until someone mentions it to you or you read a story like this. To find out how you can get started, visit www.st-gemma.co.uk/volunteering.