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Caudwell Children Volunteer
I retired as a teacher in 2020 and had always planned to spend my retirement travelling, but COVID changed that. I still wanted to do something worthwhile with my time, so I decided to volunteer. I chose Caudwell Children because I had supported children with special needs for over 30 years during my teaching career so to me it was an obvious choice.
Volunteering is really satisfying, it’s incredible to know that I’m giving back to society, supporting families in a way I couldn’t do previously and has had a positive impact on my own mental health.
Due to changes in my health, I had to stop volunteering for a while, but when I was able to come back, the volunteering team made adjustments for me so I didn’t feel any pressure or stress when I came back.
Caudwell Children make you feel at ease and part of the Purple Family, it’s a really friendly and supportive environment, if you make a mistake, you don’t feel like you’ve done something awful. I love that Caudwell Children has so many student volunteers as well, I get to talk to a wide range of people and I still get to use my skills and learn new ones, my age is irrelevant. When I see other volunteers in their 80’s, it’s just inspirational and proves that you can still do things and contribute to society.