Databank support volunteer

Role

We sometimes have lots of new people come in for help at the same time, so part of your role will be to welcome people, make sure they know where to sit if they need to wait. You may need to ask people to come back later, to come back next week, or give out a leaflet with other options, if we are fully booked that day. We’d also love it if you can help people to put the new sims into their phone, check they are working, that they know how to top up, and maybe support them to understand their data use. You do need to feel fairly confident using a mobile phone, but you don’t need to be a tech expert – your everyday knowledge is enough. Our databank customers are struggling, we help anyone from Stockport who needs this support. Some of our customers are homeless, others may be having a rough time – and that can come out as anger, sadness or strong language! You may meet people who haven’t been able to wash their clothes for a while, people with very sad stories and customers with disabilities. We have families come to see us who may have young children with them, and sometimes toddlers get grumpy! The databank is for anyone on a low income, so we also support people who are seeking asylum. You may need to have conversations using a translation app on the person’s phone. We do ask our databank volunteers to be happy to support everyone who comes to us for help, so please consider carefully if you are able to be empathetic to anyone who asks for our help before you apply. You will get full training when you volunteer, and support from Starting Point staff on the day. To begin with, you will have some support from our Volunteering Lead to help you settle in and feel confident when you volunteer. You will also have backup from Stopford House staff if needed – we want all our volunteers to feel safe and comfortable when they volunteer. There is an opportunity to get trained to issue sim cards as well, if you are interested to do that at a later date. All our volunteers get access to regular top up training and socials, as part of our Digital Champion network. We will have a rota for this role, so you don’t need to volunteer every week – unless you want to! This is a fairly independent role once you get started, so you will need to be happy to start conversations with new people, be able to cope with more than one person asking you questions, and the environment may be noisy. You need to be able to explain in non-techy language how their new sim will work. You do need to be happy to proactively ask for help if you need it. This is a rewarding role where you will make a difference to local people every time you volunteer.