Laura has been a volunteer at the Help the Aged head office for over thirty years. She has volunteered in many sections of the Charity but for the last twelve years has worked with the Information Resources Team:

'As a volunteer I enjoy the opportunity to do something more worthwhile and it's good to meet with young people as they have different conversations. It also gets you out of the house and the area where you live. I love the people I work with in the Information Resources Team - I call them 'my girls'! I still keep in contact with many of them; they are like my extended family.'

Clare spent a month volunteering with Help the Aged. She spent time at head office in the Policy and Events Fundraising departments:

'The work varied from writing policy reports and judging competition entrants to the more mundane tasks of stuffing envelopes. I also had the opportunity to join the Youth Fundraising Committee, through which young people in London organise two fundraising events a year. Fortunately, my time at Help the Aged coincided with one of the events, a sports theme party. This gave me the opportunity to get involved in planning the event, and to enjoy the resulting party with the added bonus that I was raising money for a good cause.'

'I enjoyed meeting people across the charity, and my month of volunteering gave me much greater understanding of the breadth of work the charity undertakes, and has encouraged and helped me to pursue a career in the charity sector.'

David is volunteering in the Policy department at the Help the Aged head office:

'I have been doing a lot of web research into areas of interest for the organisation and learnt a great deal about the issues which affect older people. I am also getting an understanding of how a large NGO works and how Help the Aged fits into a wider network of organisations.'

'I have been pleased to receive a reasonable, yet not overwhelming, level of responsibility. This has been mainly due to the fact that what I do is not handed down from above but by a consultative process of which I am a central part. Overall I feel that I am valued by the organisation and have received as much as I have given.'