Hospiscare needs more volunteers in Exeter

Local charity needs help running shops

Hospiscare is seeking volunteers for multiple sites in Exeter, including a brand-new pop-up charity shop in Sidwell Street, their Topsham charity shop, South Street Book Shop and the Marsh Barton based warehouse.

The local hospice charity supports close to 2,500 patients and families living with terminal illnesses across the heart of Devon every year and charity shops play a big part raising funds for the services provided to patients and their families.

Liz Mears has been volunteering in the Topsham Hospiscare shop for 2 years and says, “I like volunteering because it feels worthwhile and good to give something back, I get to spend time supporting a hugely important charity. I enjoy meeting people in the shop and feel lucky to work with other friendly volunteers. I really enjoy being a volunteer!”

Fiona Vessey also volunteers in the Topsham shop and explains, “It’s rewarding — you meet lovely people, gain new skills, make a difference in people's lives, have fun and work with lots of different people… being part of the Thursday gang is the highlight of my week!”

Volunteering is a great way to learn new skills, boost your confidence, make new friends and be part of a team, build your CV, advance your experience and skill set and keep your brain active; as well as giving back to your community and supporting local end-of-life care.

Angy Rowe, Shop Manager at Hospiscare in Topsham, says “We’re so lucky to have volunteers like Liz and Fiona as part of our fantastic Topsham team, not only do they help keep things running smoothly, they also ensure our customers always feel welcome, creating a real community spirit. We couldn’t do it without them! The support of our volunteer team ensures that Hospiscare can continue to provide their specialist end-of-life care within our local community.”

Shop volunteers enjoy a varied role and duties can include serving customers, operating the till, creating window displays, sorting donations, preparing clothing for sale, identifying items for our online shop, replenishing stock and promoting Hospiscare’s lottery.

As well as shop volunteer roles, Hospiscare is looking to fill a range of volunteer roles in their Marsh Barton warehouse, including a Retail Researcher and Product Lister, Electrical Volunteer, Retail Dispatch Assistant, Retail Admin Support, E-Commerce Photographer and Warehouse Assistant.

As a volunteer, you will be helping to generate essential income to maintain Hospiscare services for local patients and their families.

Interested? Click here to find out more or apply.