I could of ticked this one off earlier in the year when I helped sell tickets at one of Harper's dance eisteddfod with my sister. This is the second year I've done this, not only does it support Harper and her Dance school, but I also enjoy doing it with my sister and keeping her company. However, I felt like it would be an easy cop out to claim something that I would of done regardless.
I also could have piggy backed off No.27 'Go on a rubbish pickup' as my volunteering stint, but I felt like that would be double dipping.
One of the great things about my workplace is that you have access to two days volunteer leave. I've never utilised it before but have always wanted to explore using it. I was disappointed though when I've looked on the volunteer opportunity site throughout the year that there was nothing available for just a couple of days, a lot of places require a commitment of regular hour which is hard to do around work. I recently made one more attempt to see if anything was available and to my surprise there was urgency for one-off volunteers with the Mackay Red Cross shop, so I submitted an application. After not hearing back from Red Cross immediately, I thought I might need to come up with another idea. Then, when I was at Parkrun recently, they announced that they were low on volunteers for the following week, so I took it as a sign and put my name down. As fate would have it, a couple days later I heard back from Red Cross and also locked in my two days to volunteer there too.
So, on the 5th November I was a Marshall at Parkrun, guiding the runners in the right direction and cheering them on with many "Well done" and "Keep Going" comments. This volunteering stint was super easy and it was nice to give back to an event that I partake in too. I would definitely do this again.
Then the main event for this one, was my two days of volunteering at the Red Cross Shop which I did 8th & 15th Nov 9am-4pm. This was another positive experience. The role entailed ironing, serving on the cash register, cutting buttons off to sell on clothing that would otherwise not be sellable (they really don't waste anything!) and helping sort, price and code clothes. Margaret, the elderly lady who runs the shop, was incredibly kind and amazingly does this on top of working/volunteering at Mackay Base Hospital. I was happy to help out over these two days with whatever they required and if I did not already work full-time I would like to help out again, but hopefully I will at least be able to utilise my two volunteer days for next year and help out again.
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