I was a trustee for 5 years for the children’s literacy charity, ABC to read. It was an honour to be part of this charity that transforms children’s lives by working with them to develop skills for life.
I started volunteering with them because I believe that every child has the right to develop reading skills. It is almost impossible to fulfil your potential in life without those skills. Of course, I got lots from the experience too – learning new skills myself, meeting new people, being part of something bigger.
I also volunteered as a trustee for Citizens Advice Wokingham for a few years too, another experience where I learned a lot as well as contributing to my community.
I’m between volunteer roles at the moment, but I’ll be doing more in the future, that’s for sure.
We’re sharing this story as part of the #ChangeTheStory campaign from Reach Volunteering who are celebrating the humanity that exists in the world. From the campaign website:
The simple truth is that most of us care deeply about one another and the world around us. We see volunteers regularly give their time and their skills, to help others. And yet every day, we receive messages from our workplaces, from advertising and politics, and popular culture that people are primarily driven by ‘selfish’ values such as power, wealth and status.
Research by the Common Cause Foundation has found that 74% of people in the UK place greater importance on values like kindness, helpfulness and equality than values like wealth, achievement and ambition. However, most of us (77%) tend to underestimate others, assuming that people are more likely to place more importance on self-interested values than on values of justice and care. This is called the ‘perception gap’