News: Autumn/Winter 2001
Volunteering
Services
About
Other
Contents
My
Friend's Dad and the Evil Activists
New
life for 50+ project
Striking
the Balance - volunteer's story
Millennium
Volunteers
Volunteer
Centre Edinburgh update
Shorts
Home
is where the heart is...
Launch
of city imagebank
My Friend's Dad and the Evil Activists
A friend of mine's dad had scheduled a meeting in the Pentagon for 9.30am on September 11. The meeting was on the west side of the building where, 8 minutes later, the terrorist controlled plane crashed. Thanks to a cancellation my friend still has a dad. Thats how close to home the events of the 11 September came to me, which still isn't that close.
"We may feel powerless to act on the world stage, but we are far from powerless in our own city."
The atrocities of the 11 September, the subsequent Anthrax incidents, and the genesis of another war leave most of us speechless with anxiety, and feeling powerless to effect the course of events (of global significance) as they unfold. At home however, there are urgent, associated issues to get our heads around: the climate of hostility toward asylum seekers, the fire-bombing of the Annandale Street Mosque and a number of incidents of racist abuse.
We may feel powerless to act on the world stage, but we are far from powerless in our own city. Why? Because we have a strong tradition of volunteering and activism with which to change things.
Volunteering is defined as "the commitment of time and energy for the benefit of society, the community, the environment or people outside one's immediate family. It is undertaken freely and by choice, without concern for financial gain."
At times like these a dramatic issue nags at the heart of volunteering, as it does that of activism - the problem of good and evil. The notion of 'benefit' in the above definition does not deal with the issue of moral perspective. Racist activists volunteer to stir up racial hatred, some of them with the belief that this is actually for the benefit of society, while anti-racist activists are volunteering to oppose them.
In contrast, publicly funded organisations are bound ideologically to the prevalent, generally moderate views of the day, by a whole host of legislation, and by the policies of (publicly answerable) funding bodies. In this regard their volunteers can be expected to behave in a way which is popularly regarded as serving the 'good', while volunteers working for racist groups could only be regarded by the mainstream as serving 'evil'.
There have been many issues however where popular morality has been oppressive, and where activists have had to struggle for rights which we now regard as moral absolutes.
Activism differs from volunteering in that it can imply something additional about the individual's style of involvement: activists are pro-active, rather than responsive. Activist groups aim to seize the initiative. Clearly both activism and volunteering have potential for harm as well as good. If certain kinds of 'volunteering' and 'activism' go unopposed, we will as a society suffer the consequences.
Activism sometimes calls for counter-activism, propaganda for counter-propaganda. At a time when racist activists are busy agitating on all levels, exploiting the negative press and government rhetoric about asylum seekers, and more recently the terrorist attacks in the US and elsewhere, it is imperative that a 'good', anti-racist activist and volunteer force is working against them.
Mark Steven
related LINKS
Black Community Development Project
The BCDP, active in Greater Pilton, offers a range of services for Black/Minority
Ethnic people.
www.bcdp.org.uk
Scottish Refugee Council
Support, advocacy and legal services for asylum seekers. www.scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk
Freequal
Promoting support for asylum seekers in Edinburgh and beyond through popular
arts / clubbing.
www.freequal.org
Refugee Survival Trust
Financial assistance for asylum seekers in Scotland in extreme poverty.
www.rst.org.uk
CERES
The Centre for Education for Racial Equality in Scotland. http://dns1.mhie.ac.uk/%7eceres/Website/Mainframe.html
New life for 50+ project
Lara Celini, successor to Susan England, has resumed the Opportunity Plus Project.
During older people's week we ran a successful event with Saheliya for black and minority ethnic elders, which explored the kinds of volunteering that already exist within the BME communities, and what barriers there are to volunteering.
In my role as Development Worker I am looking forward to delivering a series of pre-retirement talks, providing one-to-one consultations, free advice and an information service on a range of options available to people in the 50+ age group, including volunteering, lifelong learning, leisure and recreation.
If you have a volunteering opportunity that you would like to specifically promote to the 50+ age group please get in touch. Telephone Lara on +44 (0) 131 225 0630 for more information.
Striking the Balance
A regular feature about involving volunteers with extra support needs. This issue: the volunteer's perspective.
Too young to hippy - to old to punk
"Too young to hippy _ too old to punk" is how music lover Alasdair Robertson describes himself! After years of poor health and low self-esteem, Alasdair's confidence is soaring _ and volunteering has helped make it happen.
"I have been through some rough times" explains Alasdair. "My mental health was poor. I would hear voices in my head and I wasn't eating properly. It's hard to believe how things have turned around for me. My two loves in life are music and people, and volunteering has brought the two together for me!"
Alasdair started voluntary work at McLeod Street Centre over a year ago. He assists with a music group for clients with learning disabilities. "I take along my guitar and sing with the group. We started with blues and Beetles numbers, but now our repertoire includes songs I've composed about clients and staff in the Centre. They love it."
Alasdair admits that he didn't know what to expect from voluntary work. "I knew I wanted to fill my time, but that was about it. I was very nervous to start with and definitely couldn't have done it without the support of the McLeod Street staff. Brian Mulligan is always in the group with me and is great to work with. He has recorded some of my songs onto CD as a way of saying thank you _ I was thrilled to pieces."
Alasdair has recently broadened his horizons by joining Deanbank Centre as a volunteer. "Its true that you can help yourself by helping others. I still have times when I don't feel brilliant but as soon as I pick up my guitar and hear the group call out their requests, all my bad thoughts go out the window. I feel so much better about myself."
In our next Volunteer Centre Edinburgh newsletter we will be speaking to Brian Mulligan, staff member at McLeod Street, about his experience of involving volunteers with recent serious health problems.
Shorts
Sublimity of wire and plastic rocks Easter Road
Volunteer Centre Edinburgh's new window display represents a huge leap forward from the grotty old noticeboards that we had been using for about five years. Now volunteer recruitment posters can be seen, suspended from wires, neatly encased in plastic, drawing in hundreds of potential volunteers as they stroll down Easter Road. Keep your posters coming in to Volunteer Centre Edinburgh: we will display them and they will get seen!
Yuletide timegivers in volunteering frenzy seek seasonal opportunities
At this time of year people from across Edinburgh are realising that they might be spending Christmas alone, or worse, with their families. Voluntary groups can exploit their panic by advertising seasonal volunteering opportunities. Contact Volunteer Centre Edinburgh with the details, or register opportunities on-line at www.volunteeredinburgh.org.uk.
Discriminating behaviour
The following statement from Mark Shrimpton, head of information and advice at the Disability Rights Commission (DRC), describes how the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 applies to volunteering:
"To exclude disabled people from voluntary work is almost certainly illegal and definitely a barrier we would like to see lifted immediately. In many cases, volunteering is the first step back into employment. In every case, voluntary work brings people into the mainstream and helps challenge prejudice, negative attitudes and stereotypical imagery."
The DRC has a helpline and Practice Development Team who will work with organisations to improve their practice and procedures to ensure that disabled people are involved as volunteers. Contact them on 08457 622633.
City Imagebank of Volunteering to be Launched
Image » From the project collection: Fresh Start volunteer
Volunteer Centre Edinburgh has been working with photographer Paul Bennett to develop a portfolio of images documenting voluntary work in the city.
The result of the project will be around 40 quality images of volunteers at work. The images capture the variety of different projects and tasks for volunteers in the city, as well as the diversity of volunteers themselves.
The images will be useful in Volunteer Centre Edinburgh's own work of promoting volunteering throughout the city.
The collection will be available for other agencies to use, in the form of a CD and catalogue on the website.
The photographs will be launched at Volunteer Centre Edinburgh's office on Monday 10 December, between 4.00 and 6.30. A perfect opportunity to meet the staff of Volunteer Centre Edinburgh and join us for a glass of wine and a mince pie. All welcome.
Home is where the heart is..
In the dark quiet hours of the very early morning, my dad would get out of bed, and sit, in wrinkled pyjamas, at his PC, where he would work on the neighbourhood magazine and website. He would work solidly for 12 hours in which time he would appear only briefly, in order to eat bread and cheese and make coffee.
At five in the evening he'd settle in his favourite chair until tea time, after which he'd be back at his desk until midnight. He wouldn't have to change for bed because he'd still be wearing his pyjamas.
He repeated this process for a week in each month for a period of six years, accumulating as he did so some well developed haemorrhoids and something approaching 5600 hours of voluntary work.
Many people are willing to volunteer from home given the opportunity. Existing projects use home based volunteers for a variety of tasks - from actual service provision in the form of telephone support and advice, to administrative assistance in the form of typing and translating.
Though most people may want to do something connected with their local community, there are wider communities of interest. It is possible to volunteer for Australian environmental agencies working to protect rare fauna, for the WRVS in Chicago, or for agencies working to alleviate poverty in Africa. The possibilities are endless.
If you run a project that involves volunteers working from home, please get in touch with us so that we can share your experience with other volunteer involvers in the area.
If you're thinking about involving home-based volunteers for the first time, get in touch with staff at Volunteer Centre Edinburgh. We'll be pleased to help you work through the issues.
related LINKS
www.e-volunteer.co.uk
www.netaid.com
www.idealist.org
eve UPDATE
Jill Smith - recently promoted to "Administrator" brings us the latest gossip.
We have just completed a major update of our volunteering opportunities. If you have not updated your opportunities please, please do so as soon as possible. This will ensure that the public receive a quality service and relevant information.
Our web site has proved to be enormously successful with ever increasing numbers accessing volunteering opportunities and other information this way - this allows Volunteer Centre Edinburgh to concentrate on giving appointments to people who wish to make use of the Opportunity Plus, Millennium Volunteering and Community Care services.
Community Care Project Officer, Marion Findlay, has recently returned to the sanctuary of the office after giving birth to baby girl number 2, Ruth. Welcome back from all the staff.
Lara Celini has joined the staff as Opportunity Plus Development Worker - it is great to have her here. We have also recently advertised for a part time Administrative Assistant who will hopefully be appointed to post by the time this is printed. This will enable Harriet Eadie to join the lofty ranks of the Scottish Executive on a 6 month part -time secondment to the Voluntary Issues Unit. Mark Steven is shouldering a massive chunk of Harriet's responsibilities in her absence making it necessary for the new administrative post.
Sadly, with the impending departure of our wonderful Director, Nan McKenna, in March of next year, work has been going on with regard to securing her replacement. The post will be advertised in the near future making Nan's departure a reality for all staff here - here's hoping her replacement will be able to put up with us all!
We are also had our own very first AGM marking our first year since cutting the umbilical cord from EVOC _ quite a milestone for us.
Lastly, all the staff at Volunteer Centre Edinburgh would like to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and good 2002.
millennium volunteers
Millennium Volunteers is now midway through its third and final year of the initial round of Scottish Executive Funding, so here's a brief round up of achievements to date and what the future holds.
- 2062 MVs recruited in Scotland
- 770 MV Certificates & 310 Awards of Excellence presented.
- Aug 2001 - Review group set up by Scottish Executive to assess the impact of the initiative, and consider way forward.
- Oct 2001 - Jackie Baillie MSP Minister for Social Justices announces Millennium Volunteers funding to be continued until March 2003.
- Existing Millennium Volunteer projects are being invited to apply for continued funding.
- Review of programme now in progress.
The future
- A decision on the long term future and funding, based on the Review Groups' recommendations is not expected until Summer/Autumn 2002.
- The Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive are continuing to show their commitment towards the programme. A reception for Millennium Volunteers hosted by the First Minister, Henry McLeish MSP is planned for 5th December 2001 at Stirling Castle.
- 50 Millennium Volunteers from Edinburgh & the Lothians will receive MV Certificates & Awards of Excellence at a ceremony and celebration on 15th November 1001. Watch out for photos a in the next newsletter.
