Liverpool volunteering course gives people meaning and changes lives in the process
This volunteers week The Salvation Army is shining a spotlight on its Liverpool-based volunteering course which has seen lives change on completion, with its next cohort currently open for applicants.
Steps to Volunteer, which is part of a suite of employability courses at The Salvation Army’s Strawberry Field site in Woolton and sees people supported to an end goal of having the skills to work, enables trainees to complete a Level 2 qualification in customer service and hospitality before embarking on a volunteering role at the famous site, immortalised by The Beatles song ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’.
In total more than 60 people* have completed Steps to Volunteer since its launch in early 2021, which provides people with an eight-week training course followed by a volunteering role at the famous site. Applications for the next course due to start in September are currently being accepted.
Alan Triggs, Programme Manager of The Salvation Army’s Steps to Volunteer said: “We want to help people achieve their volunteering goals and find an area that they are passionate about and Steps to Volunteer is a course that allows everybody to reach their volunteering potential, making a difference to our work, and all of our volunteers really do make such a big difference to the work we do.
“For some people volunteering is a way to escape boredom and give something back, for others it is a way of getting themselves ready for the working world, whether getting back into work or taking that first step, but for all it gives them meaning whilst boosting their CV and gaining a qualification at the same time. Volunteering can help change lives and we hope our volunteers are positively impacted in their life too by giving their time so generously. Volunteering can be so rewarding with new skills and friendships made along the way.”
The free training course, which is one day a week for eight weeks, looks at the structure and responsibilities of a volunteering role as well as providing skills in customer service and hospitality through practical and theory-based activities.
On completion of the course people are given a volunteering role at Strawberry Field which includes opportunities in the shop, café, visitor attraction, gardening and administration.
For anyone looking to join the Steps to Volunteer course, the next cohort starts in September and applications can be made by visiting www.strawberryfield.salvationarmy.org.uk/apply-steps-volunteer.
For more information about Strawberry Field, and to donate to the work it does with vulnerable young adults with barriers to employment, please visit www.strawberryfield.salvationarmy.org.uk/
The eight-week course takes place at the community library in Speke and is delivered in association with Three Dimensional Training, a Birkenhead based training provider.