Each month, we will be featuring a different charity or other non-profit organisation that relies on the help of volunteers. In their words, you will hear what these organisations do and the difference volunteers make to them.
Today, we hear from Mid-Lin Day Care. Read all about them below. If you would like to volunteer with Mid-Lin, contact Helen on 01382 506451 or email volunteer@mid-lin.co.uk.
Tell us about your organisation/project (who do you help and in what way?)
Mid-Lin Day Care is a registered Charity that offers care and companionship for older adults who need assistance or supervision during the day. We provide social activities, nutritious meals and companionship to older people who have some degree of physical disability or who have experienced mental health problems leading to social isolation. 
What difference do volunteers make to your organisation/project?
Volunteers make a huge difference to the service that we are able to deliver. Their support allows our staff to be more efficient and effective. Our volunteers work very hard to make sure we are meeting the needs of all of the service users, keeping them active and laughing and enjoying life. They bring energy, ideas and enthusiasm to each task and make a real difference to people’s lives.
Tell us more about the volunteering roles you have.
Care work – Listening to service users and keeping people as active and engaged as they would like to be, by -Caring for and communicating with service users, helping them to participate in activities, assisting with personal care if necessary, helping service users with eating and drinking where required.
Domestic Assistant – Helping us to maintain as homely an environment as is possible by taking care of general cleaning duties, washing floors, dusting, cleaning toilets and doing laundry.
Mini-bus driver Keeping our transport on the road, and legal, by inspecting the bus, refuelling, recording appropriate information on bus sheets, preparing routes, and transporting our service users in a safe and timely manner
Escorting Service Users Looking after the comfort and welfare of our service users on journeys by helping them get onto and off the minibus, ensuring they reach their destination safely, helping them into the house and making sure they are safe and doors are locked.
Garden /Property Maintenance Use your practical skills to keep the building and outside space a safe and welcoming place for our service users by- carrying out DIY inside the centre and maintaining the garden, greenhouse and sheds, keeping the grass short and weed free and safe for our service users to use.
Tell us why volunteering for your organisation/project would be of benefit to an individual.
- Support a good cause -volunteering at Mid-lin Day Care will provide you with the opportunity to support an organisation whose main aim is to alleviate social isolation and loneliness for adults and older people.
- Feel good about yourself – a sense of personal satisfaction of a task well done and knowing you can really make a difference to someone’s day.
- Gain experience in the care sector, and a reference when you move on (where appropriate)
- Make new friends whilst enjoying the company of others
- Learn new skills We support volunteers to develop their skills and knowledge by providing training on a varsity of topics depending on the role you are volunteering in.
- Because it can be FUN
If no-one v
olunteered, where would you be?
Volunteers are the lifeblood of Midlin, they help us to deliver a service that is second to none. It would be very difficult for us to continue to deliver a service without volunteers. We would not have a service if we did not have volunteers as we are a charity and funds are limited to employ staff.