Volunteering for Communities Together East Anglia
Volunteering is a great way of giving back to your community, building new skills and making new friends. At Communities Together East Anglia we have a range of volunteering opportunities available, suitable for all ages and abilities.
All Communities Together East Anglia volunteers have a DBS check and we ask for at least one reference before volunteering can start. All of our volunteers are offered first aid awareness and dementia friends awareness sessions as well as an induction for both the organisation and the specific volunteering role that they choose to undertake.
Below are some of the roles currently available. We are always happy to chat about other volunteer opportunities
2’023 for 2023
Volunteer Hours
Community Car Drivers
We welcome volunteer drivers who are prepared to drive their own vehicle to support individuals who cannot access mainstream transport services.
Catch up and Chat
Are you friendly, chatty and confident talking on the phone? If so, then you may like to support us by making a regular phone call to an older person (usually once a week) for a maximum of 30 minutes, just for a natter and to check they are okay.
Rickshaw Pilots
We are looking for friendly, active volunteers to support the Stowmarket Rickshaw Project for between 2 – 4 hours per session. A basic level of fitness is an advantage, although the vehicle is battery assisted!
Community Engagement
We are looking for community “heroes” – people at a hyper-local level that would like to help older people in their community – this could be regular befriending, helping with shopping, or encouraging community engagement on an individual basis.
These roles are in East Suffolk only.
Meet and Greet/Events
Do you love to chat and make people feel welcome? Maybe you make a great cup of tea or would like to support us with fundraising activities or community events.
Digital Champions
Do you have an understanding of the importance of digital integration and the interest to join our new network of Digital Champions across Suffolk? Our volunteers will help people within their community with simple digital queries, both over the telephone and face to face where a need is identified.
Click here to watch a short video
BeAFriend
We are looking for dedicated volunteers to support older people who may feel isolated and lonely.
We are launching a four-tier befriending service:
Countywide – telephone, digital and penpal
Read the latest news from our blog:
2023: A Right Royal Help Out
Everywhere we turn at the moment is red white and blue with a plethora of Coronation memorabilia and decorations donning the streets as well as in our shops.
We don’t want to get left behind, but rather than focusing specifically on Coronation Day and the national Big Help Out campaign to encourage volunteering, we’ve decided in true CTEA form to “do our own thing”! So thanks to King Charles, we are launching 2023 for 2023, an opportunity for you to pledge your time throughout 2023, with the aim of reaching the grand total of 2023 volunteering hours donated from our incredible volunteer army.
Meet our new Operations Manager
Hello! I am delighted to have joined CTEA as Operations Manager in January 2023. It means a great deal to me to be going to work in an organisation that truly believes in the power and strength of local community and in empowering people within their own communities.
Just a little about myself…. I would like to be thought of as a kind and compassionate person who tries to always be helpful to others. I always try to put my team first and shepherd people together, showing positive leadership to create a team not a collection of individuals.
The Start of a New Year…
How the time flies!
With Christmas and New Year festivities now behind us, it’s time for the Communities Together East Anglia team to forge ahead with some exciting plans, developments and most importantly continuing to support people at a community level across Suffolk to reduce loneliness and social isolation.
We also have some anniversaries – two of our amazing team are celebrating their two year anniversary with the charity in January, and we also welcome Colin Baldwin to our merry band – Colin has joined us from Suffolk County Council and is our new Operations Manager – so you can expect to hear and see Colin when we are out and about in communities over the next few months!