Volunteers

Introduction

As well as providing housing and support for tenants, LATCH also provides opportunities for people to volunteer, gaining practical experience in building, DIY and decorating skills. If volunteers or tenants come to us with skills in these areas, this is an added bonus as we appreciate all the help we can get. Volunteers work with staff and future tenants on the refurbishment of houses prior to the new tenant moving in (All applicants for housing are required to do 10 days voluntary work with LATCH before they can be re-housed).

Volunteers can also get involved in the LATCH Management Committee. It is an important part of LATCH's organization, it meets once every 2 months and there are places on the committee for 2 tenants and 2 volunteer representatives.

What kind of work do volunteers at LATCH get involved in?

This can change depending on the projects LATCH has on the go at any one time. However there is always ongoing practical DIY work involving preparing houses for new tenants to move in after old tenants have left. Tasks vary and could involve the following:

• Painting and decorating
• House clearance (and visits to the dump!)
• Carpet laying
• Tiling
• Helping to fit a new kitchen
• Cleaning
• Gardening and other work improving grounds.
• Putting up fittings (e.g. curtains, shelves, hooks etc)
• Helping to move people in - shifting furniture etc.
• Office work

When and where does the work take place?

At time of going to press, site work takes place on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Because we work on different properties at different times, volunteers usually meet us at the office at 176 Chapeltown Road at 9.30am for a cuppa before setting off in the vans to whichever house we are working on. All the properties will either be in Chapeltown or Burley Lodge and you can arrange to meet us there if it is easier for you. We ask volunteers to call the office on Tuesday afternoon to find out whether they will be needed for work, what work will be going and where it will be taking place. Work on site usually finishes at around 4.30pm.

What is the time commitment to being a volunteer?

Most of our regular volunteers come in for one day a week on a Wednesday or Thursday. Some stay for a few weeks and others have been with us for years. If you can’t commit to one day a week but still want to volunteer the best thing is to come and have a chat with us. We sometimes have office based volunteering opportunities that can happen on other weekdays – again you would need to speak to staff about this. Unfortunately LATCH only operates Monday to Friday and cannot offer voluntary work at weekends.

Letting us know if you can’t come in.

If you have committed to working on certain days each week, we would be grateful if you could let us know as soon as possible in advance if you are unable to attend, so that we know how many volunteers are coming in and can plan our work more effectively.

What if LATCH doesn’t have any work on?

There will be some weeks when LATCH will not have any work for volunteers – this is because sometimes we do not have any properties that we need to work on. If this is the case, we will contact you to let you know that there is no work on – this will normally be on a Tuesday afternoon after our planning meeting.

Taster Day

If you are interested in volunteering with LATCH, please call the office and we will invite you in and give you the opportunity to do a ‘taster day’ on site, so that you can see if it’s the kind of voluntary work that you are interested in.

Training

If you are interested in volunteering with LATCH, please call the office and we will invite you in and give you the opportunity to do a ‘taster day’ on site, so that you can see if it’s the kind of voluntary work that you are interested in.

You don’t have to be a trained builder to become a volunteer. In fact, most people arrive with little experience of DIY and leave with a few skills under their belt. Our site supervisors provide in-house training and supervision in painting and decorating as well as other aspects of home maintenance and are always on site to show you what to do and try and sort out any problems. We also send people on training courses at local colleges. Some of the courses volunteers have attended are as follows:

• 4 Day Handy Persons Course at Leeds College of Building
• 4 Day First Aid at Work Course at Leeds College of Building
• 2 Day course in Women Fleeing violence from men they know
• Advocacy skills training
• Computer skills
• Introduction to counseling skills

If you are interested in attending a short course you can always talk to your link worker about this.

Childcare

If you have childcare requirements whilst you are volunteering, LATCH has a limited childcare budget and maybe able to help you with costs. Please speak to your link worker if you are in this situation.

Social Events

Every so often we feel that it is important to have a get together. These do not happen as often as we would like but we try to arrange 2 outings a year as well as having a big party at Christmas. If you are interested in this part of LATCH's work we are always open to new ideas and suggestions.

More information

To get more information about volunteering at LATCH, such as our Equal Opportunities policy, Health and Safety details, you can download our complete volunteers handbook by clicking here.

After all this we hope you’re still interested in coming along and getting involved with LATCH! All you have to do is give us a ring or e-mail us and we can arrange a time for you to come in and discuss volunteering opportunities. Contact details