Tell us about your experience of student volunteers at Storehouse.
Storehouse, our food bank and soup kitchen, has been going since 2010; since 2016 we’ve had students come in to volunteer as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards. They interact very well with the adults and they learn very quickly. In fact, the vast amount of Duke of Edinburgh students we get come through Volunteer Centre Hackney, so I really do sing your praises!
What can students learn by volunteering at Storehouse?
Students develop a sense of compassion, and I don’t think that’s something that is taught. Obviously, we try to teach them to be polite, but they’ve already got a genuine sense of kindness to help people which will actually be something to put them in good stead in life.
Also, students can get a sense of community in Hackney through working with volunteers from different walks of life – we’re really a multicultural organisation. You learn how to interact with people from different countries; and that’s something you can always translate into moving on in life.
In terms of the roles, student volunteers could be working in our kitchen; they could be serving light refreshments from the tea trolley, or they could also be sorting out clothes, as we have a lot of clothing donated.
How does volunteering in Hackney build communities?
Volunteering helps the wider community to give back. What I’ve also seen is volunteers making new friends with each other which is fantastic; some meet at each other’s homes, and we also have social events. Making great relationships and friendships also helps build the community.
Our volunteers choose to come out early on a Sunday morning because they need to arrive at 10.30am. People have every right to stay at home and rest after a busy week, but these wonderful people choose to come out!
What’s the induction process like at Storehouse?
We give all volunteers a simple induction and training. We give them a bit of our history – who we are, how long we’ve been going, and the types of people we serve which include homeless people, unemployed people, and generally anyone who is struggling with the cost of living.
For those students working in our kitchen, we show them how to prepare and what type of work they can expect to do in the kitchen. For those who are working in the actual food bank, we’ll show them how to lay out the food. There are a lot of hygiene protocols to follow so that’s a big part of our induction and training.
Tell us about your background in Hackney and how the organisation came about.
My wife and I have been in Hackney for 23 years now – one of the things which brought us here was we became pastors at a church. I remember thinking we needed to reach out and engage with people who were struggling. So, we started to help homeless people by offering food.
It’s all part of our Christian faith – we believe in feeding the poor, helping the homeless, and supporting people who are struggling.
So that’s how it started – come rain, sunshine or snow, we would go out every Saturday and bring big pots of soup to them from our church, and we’d have a queue of people waiting. It became accessible to people. People didn’t have to come to the church to eat our food – they could come if they wanted to or not. Now we serve our food every Sunday from a warm building where people can come and sit, and enjoy a hot meal.
All of this, and the food bank, have been phenomenal for us. My wife and I just love people and want to help.
Fancy crafting new skills with Errol and the team at Storehouse? Apply for their food bank/soup kitchen role here.
Alternatively, check out the latest top 10 volunteering roles in Hackney here.