VOLUNTEERS: Become a buddy and brighten a life

Help and become a 'buddy' for adults with learning difficulties

West Sussex Learning Links is appealing for more volunteers to join its long-running befriending programme.

Buddies will help mentor their partners as well as joining in and supporting their ‘student’ in activities.

This could range from cinema trips and ten-pin bowling matches, to art, cookery and woodwork.

There are also a range of group activities and trips offered, which will see buddies and their partners heading off to tourist attractions.

Volunteers would need to spare only a few hours each week.

For more information on any of the roles featured this week, please call Volunteer Now! on 01243 864220, or email: [email protected] or visit www.vaac.org.uk

Other roles available this week include:-

n Guides are needed to lend a hand at a charity for young people in and around Littlehampton.

Project 82 is hunting for a new youth worker to boost its ranks at its evening sessions.

The charity helps young people, aged 13-25, covering a range of issues such as sexual health, mental well-being, alcohol, drugs, housing and homelessness, education, money and debt.

The youth worker would help run the evening session with other trained staff.

Each volunteer is encouraged to work a minimum of two hours, one evening per week, but any time a committed volunteer can give is most welcome.

n Mentors are needed to support prisoners as they make the transition from a life behind bars back into the community.

The role is with Sussex Pathways. Volunteers would help offenders based at Ford Open Prison and Lewes Prison as they begin their journey away from jail.

The aim is to reduce the risk of re-offending by encouraging inmates and helping them engage with their community.

Mentoring begins pre-release with weekly meetings, for about two months, and then a further six months following release. The mentor and offender work together to develop a resettlement. Full training will be provided, but experience of supporting vulnerable people and being able to listen without judgment would help.

n Mechanics are needed to repair and maintain a fleet of mobility scooters hired out by a disability charity.

Littlehampton Shopmobility, in High Street, has appealed for a new volunteer to look after its vehicles.