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Your Monthly Volunteer Update

September 2020

Welcome to your monthly volunteer update!

Dear Volunteers,

Welcome to your September update. I hope this issue finds you all

well and keeping to the social distancing regulations in your respective

areas. It has been great to see a few of you who attended the

volunteer forums, the common theme across the two days was how

good it was to meet people again in a safe and controlled

environment.

This was nice to hear as we have been making our services COVID

secure over the past few months to support people to come into the

office.

I also understand many of you are concerned about coming back for a

variety of reasons, please ensure you are keeping in touch with your

supervisor or manager to discuss your volunteering role.

I like the following saying:

‘It is what it is.

It was what it was,

It will be what it will be,

Don’t stress it’

- Dulce Ruby

As always, I hope you find this update full of useful inspiration and

information to support you while you volunteer with us.

Esther

Volunteer Service Manager

Contents The difference you

make

Page 2

Training updates

Page 4

Volunteer forum

Page 6

Keep up to date on

Social media

Page 7

Latest news

Page 8

Get in touch

Page 9

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The difference you make

Welcome back, Paula

Since lockdown restrictions have eased Paula has been able to get her volunteering started as a befriender with the Tenancy Sustainment Service. The feedback from the clients she has supported has been very positive from both clients and her manager, Danni Flynn. “As the lockdown has eased, she has taken on the role with enthusiasm and has so far built a positive rapport with clients. Paula has only just been able to start visiting clients but of them few visits, we have received positive feedback from clients as she is friendly and offers all the support she can.” Paula commented: “I haven’t been with Horton very long. Due to Covid-19, I have just recently started to visit clients and meet with their needs. It is nice to see how friendly all the people are at Horton and it is important that Horton puts volunteers’ health and safety as a priority by informing us with updates. Danni has been brilliantly helpful and has made me feel comfortable with my role as a Peer Mentor. I hope everyone is keeping well.”

The Give: The Give was set up at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic as a way of alleviating some of the loneliness felt by many local care home residents. With lockdown meaning many people couldn’t see their loved ones, the isolation felt by the residents has been a real blow to their morale. The Give aims to brighten up these residents’ days by giving them reassuring and positive messages from people of all ages. Whether by email or handwritten letters, a personal message to someone feeling isolated could really brighten up their day and put a smile on faces during these hard times. With two new care homes added, an extra 50 residents are now available to receive your kind and thoughtful words of support and comfort. Whether the messages reminisce of the days of Frank Sinatra, mention iconic movies or timeless pieces of art, or simply offer your thoughts and feelings, these small acts of kindness could really help someone in need!

To help, please visit: https://thegive.co.uk/about-us/

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Great British September Clean: This month sees the Great British September Clean take place from the 11-27 September. This is a great way for our volunteers to feel more connected with the community as it allows us to really make a difference on the streets and feel proud of our efforts making Bradford a nicer environment! For more information, please visit: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/get-involved/support-our-campaigns/great-british-spring-clean Volunteer Wombles are needed to get involved, if you have not already let Esther know you would like to do it then please get in touch, contact details are on page 10.

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Training updates

Horton Academy training courses It is really important that you complete your core training in your first six months of volunteering with us. It is our responsibility to ensure that our volunteers are able to carry out the roles you have been recruited to do. I know it can be hard when you only volunteer for a few hours a week, but please ensure you have a conversation in your next supervision as to how you can fit the training in around your volunteering. Mandatory courses for volunteers are:

Professional Boundaries

Health & Safety

GDPR

Data Protection

Basic Personal Safety

Equality and Diversity

You can log in to Horton Academy at home (if this is your preferred way of completing training) via the link below using your name e.g. josephb and password: https://hortonhousing.learningpool.com/login/index.php Please note - if you see a face-to-face course advertised on Horton Academy that you would like to attend, please speak to your supervisor.

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Woodspeen Training have places on their Digital Inclusion Level 1 accredited course, teaching you the three basics needed for using IT. These are IT fundamentals, using email

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and using the internet. As well as this, customer service, the use of social media and prevention and safeguarding issues. This course provides people with invaluable IT skills that are very beneficial when applying for jobs. On the successful completion of the course the learners will can keep the laptop they have been using throughout the duration of their course. To secure your place or for more information, call 07572 171 048 or contact Esther Douglas.

Volunteer Forum

Volunteers from a range of services across Bradford attended two sessions for our face to face Summer forum, originally booked for May but being late is better than never is my motto! Topics disussed were :

- The future of volunteering post COVID

- Great British Clean Up and Cleaner Street Fund

- Volunteer Newsletter

- Groop - how and why we use it

- E-Learning feedback

- Basic online first aid training

We also had a guest speaker Micheal Cox, volunteer coordinator for Connecting Opportunities who joined us to discuss the befreinding and mentoring service he is setting up. Lots of ideas were flowing from both sessions and I am currently putting them into the ‘You Said, We Did’ format and they will be published in the Winter edition of the Newsletter, out in October. I would like to take this opportunity to say thanks to everyone who took part. We hope that you found them as useful as I did and sorry that not everyone could attend due to restriction on numbers. Some of the nice feedback we received were: “I missed the company, you all make me laugh which I missed.” “It gives me something to get out of bed for.” Check out the photos on the next page!

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Keep up to date on social media

If you’re not already on social media, why not sign up and follow us to keep

up to date with the latest volunteering opportunities, news and events and get

to know other Horton volunteers.

‘Like’ us on Facebook Horton Housing

Association volunteers @hortonvolunteer

Horton Housing

Association

@hortonhousingassociation

‘Follow us’ on Twitter

Horton Housing Association

volunteers @HHAVol

Horton Housing

Association

@HortonHousing

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Latest news We have a few new volunteers starting with us in September. Here is a bit about Zoe (pictured left), Shakeela (pictured centre) and Eltaher (pictured right).

Zoe: “I started volunteering for Horton housing in August 2020. I decided to volunteer as I have just finished university and I am wanting to gain new experience and knowledge, and hopefully have a career as a housing support worker in the near future. “I have only been here a short time, but I have really enjoyed my experience so far, meeting new people and cannot wait to learn more new skills and help and support individuals. “Thank you for this opportunity.”

Shakeela: “After having my first child, I took a long break of five years from work. I decided it was time to explore and face new challenges and be more productive in using my time wisely, now that my daughter has started full time education. “I decided to start small by volunteering. This would give me a feel of what it would be like working as a parent and juggling my work-life balance. I decided to volunteer with Horton Housing as their aim and objectives are to help people in the community. “I felt giving my time and commitment to a charitable organisation would bring me job satisfaction as my own background has been working in community development. I am looking forward to learn and develop new skills with the organisation and I am certain I will enjoy my placement as a volunteer with Horton Housing.”

Eltaher: “I am volunteering at Horton Housing in the STEP group. I am helping to deliver the face masks that are being made by other volunteers. When the masks are ready, my supervisor lets me know and sends me the address so that I can take the masks from Horton to the address. “I am volunteering because I feel it is important to help others. I enjoy meeting people from different backgrounds, and want to get work experience, skills and confidence so I can hopefully get a good job.”

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Volunteering opportunities

For the latest volunteering opportunities, visit the volunteering section of our website. Roles are updated on a regular basis. https://hortonhousing.co.uk/volunteering/current-opportunities/

I would love to know what you think about your volunteer

newsletter! Please get in touch with me via the details below to give any feedback, or if you

have any news stories or suggestions for future issues.

Get in touch

Esther Douglas

Volunteer Service Manager

Email:

volunteer.applications@hortonhousing.co.uk

Write:

Volunteer Service Manager

Horton Housing Training Services

Bewick House

16 Eldon Place

Bradford

BD1 3AZ

Phone: 07525 667895 or 01274 753348