By James Platt, Career & Employability Officer, LSST Birmingham Campus.  

Alice Carver, from Acorn’s Children’s Hospice, visited LSST’s Birmingham campus (on 15 Jan) to speak with our students about volunteering roles within the charity. Acorns provides specialist support and care for local children and their families when they are going through the toughest times. Their services include short breaks for children at the hospice, therapeutic and psychosocial support, support for siblings and other family members, emergency and end-of-life care, and bereavement support. 

They tailor their care for each individual child and it is designed to meet all their clinical, emotional, cultural, and spiritual needs. In the past year alone, 750 children from nearly 1000 families have been supported across the West Midlands. They receive very little funding from the central government to run their vital services and so rely on the generosity of the public and the hard work of their army of volunteers that run a lot of the operations. 

They have over 40 stores across the West Midlands and there is a host of opportunities within the stores for volunteers to build networks and gain skills that they may not already have. From working out back processing the clothing to the customer service desk, to helping with social media, the opportunities are endless in the retail stores. 

Retail opportunities allow you to gain a whole range of skills such as customer service, cash handling, stock management, social media management, volunteer management, leadership and many others. When you volunteer you also get your foot in the door and you are more likely to be chosen for any paid roles that come up in the future if you’ve proven yourself to be an asset to the team. 

Alice also told students about fundraising they can get involved, such as running their own sponsored events or attending various meetings for the charity so they can continue to fund their work. Volunteering within the hospices was also on the table, with working in the gardens, befriending some of the children, and housekeeping roles all available for those wanting to put in the effort and gain some work experience. This is perfect for those wanting to potentially work with children or get an insight into the incredible work that goes on behind the scenes and what all the funds raised go towards. 

Over 40 students attended the event with many intrigued by the variety of options available and over a quarter of them left their details with Alice to get followed up with and take the next steps to volunteering with Acorn’s in their local community. They will be contacted by the Acorns team to go over where and what they might like to volunteer to do before attending an induction and gaining skills that will be covered by their future employers. 

Thank you to Alice and Acorn’s Children’s Hospice. This is a partnership that will allow our students to get stuck in and add valuable work experience to their CVs. 

Find out more here: www.acorns.org.uk