Volunteering in Save The Children Charity Shop - Day 1

So it has been my first week of volunteering in a local Save the Children Charity Shop to me and i am absolutely loving it ! Most people especially my age i would expect (this may be a stereotype) would not even consider walking into one but to even work in one is probably is out of the question.

I can tell you that all the people that turn there nose up or are not bothered with this type of work are missing out on such a experience. I know you work for free but it is so worth it first of all your helping other people, secondly you make new friends, you learn new skills and it helps build your CV further. All of these are very good reasons why to volunteer in a local charity Shop.

I didn't go about getting the volunteer position the usual way which is by walking into a charity shop. I actually applied online and so i was very surprised when someone from Save The Children gave me a call and asked me to come into the shop for a trial to see if i like it.

The Shop i volunteer in is about 20 minutes from my home which i enjoy as when travelling there it is across country roads. When i was driving there on my first day (Wednesday) i had a mix of nerves and excitement as i didn't know what to expect.

When i got there my shop leader made me very welcome and introduced me to all the other volunteers which were there for the afternoon shift. I started in the afternoon at 1pm so there was no early wake up call for me :) I got given a locker which i left my possessions in and i got stuck into work straight away by helping the new goods volunteer with stock checking greetings cards that had just arrived in the shop, i then had to put them in their correct pouch on the shop floor.

My next job was to price up some items that already had a set price. After a cup of tea and a biscuit which is all provided (you can have a cuppa whenever you want and how ever many times you want)

After my break i started to sort through bags full of donations, pulling out items which i thought were suitable for the shop floor i then had to put them on a hanger and attach a size cube and then use the gun to clip a price tag onto the item, the items if they were clothes were then hanged on the rail ready to be steamed.

Another volunteer (who volunteered in return for some rags to make costumes for school medieval days) and myself had a laugh when she found some leather trousers which were just horrendous. We did want to cry though when we found a bag which was full of dirty clothes including dirty men's pants, bra and thong ! :( But you do have to be ready for these discoveries. That was the end of my first day of volunteering at my Save The Children Charity Shop and i thoroughly enjoyed it.

More about my next day coming soon !

Love Miss Laura x