How volunteering shaped us - stories from team Mortal Fools

We love volunteering at Mortal Fools! For many of our staff it has helped shape who they are and the direction they’ve taken in life. At times forming a vital part of their career development, giving them opportunities to try something new, helping them meet new people, learn about different perspectives and give back to their communities.  
 
To celebrate #VolunteersWeek we asked just a few staff members to share their volunteering journeys - check out their thoughts below!​

Ellie Turner 
 "I liked feeling useful so I kept doing it” 

The first time I volunteered, I was about 13, handing out water & sponges at a grassroots running event. The feeling of being part of a team with other young people and adults was everything to me. I was a very shy & self-conscious teenager, but my confidence grew each time I was trusted with a new responsibility. I liked feeling useful, so I kept doing it.  

Those early experiences of volunteering were formative to my career in the charity sector. Every charity or volunteer project I come into contact with is rooted in compassion and improving people's wellbeing - at their heart are inspirational people and volunteers that I feel very lucky to work with and know.

I've enjoyed intertwining my volunteering with where I am at in my life; litter picking at an event (I didn't have to pay for a ticket!), becoming the Trade Union Rep when I came across unfair practice, and becoming School Governor while my kids where at school. Volunteering has allowed me to inform, contribute to and influence decisions which directly affect me and my community.   
 
Currently I am a volunteer Trustee with The Cultural Spring which delivers an inclusive arts programme co-created by communities. I am also Trustee and Chair of the Board at Birkheads Wild, where young people can build a better future for themselves - using the outdoors. The positive values and team cultures alive in both charities give me so much learning and development as a charity leader. In return, I give my professional skills, knowledge and lived experience alongside a team from different sectors & backgrounds to ensure they run properly, legally and in line with their missions. 
 
In many ways I'm still about handing out the water and sponges to the amazing people doing the hard work & feeling useful! 

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Zoe Lamming
“I learned loads from her insight and complete empathy” 

While at university, I led drama sessions for Sunderland Recovery College with adults recovering from mental ill-health.  And I did a volunteering placement with Curious Monkey theatre company where I attended sessions with their Arriving group and prepared session resources, organised food and got involved with drama and discussion based group activities. 

I'd been facilitating with young people for many years but through these volunteering opportunities I worked with a lot of different adults, discovering that I can adapt how I work to suit the people I am working with. When I volunteered at the Sunderland Recovery College, a woman who attended one of the first cohorts I ran, later volunteered alongside me to support and lead drama activity and she was totally class! I learned loads from her insight and her complete empathy and ability to support people when I was still learning how to do that with a group of people whose life experience was quite different from my own. 

Similarly working with people seeking sanctuary through the Arriving group inspired me to learn more about what it means to be a refugee, across the world and in this country. Supporting refugees and campaigning for their rights is something I am still hugely passionate about. 
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There are so many brilliant grassroots organisations who are really responsive to the needs of the community but their activities couldn’t happen without volunteers. Volunteering has given me positive experiences meeting new people and trying new things and I feel like I’ve given others access to activities they might not have been able to access without me volunteering my time. ​

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Zoe Anderson
“It was a fantastic way to stay creative”  

As a teenager, I volunteered at my local dance school on Saturday mornings, helping out with the younger group. It was a lovely way to give back to the teacher who had supported me for years, while gaining experience working with children and young people - something I already knew I wanted to do as an adult. 
 
After studying theatre at university, I got a graduate job working in education, but I knew I wanted to return to the creative sector eventually, so it felt important to keep that part of my brain engaged (and my CV growing in that direction). When I lived in Leeds I enquired with a local arts organisation called Pyramid Arts to see if they had any volunteering opportunities – which they did – and started supporting their Eden Group one morning a week. It was a fantastic way to stay creative and gave me valuable experience working with adults with learning disabilities – something I hadn’t done much of before. 
  
Now, working at Mortal Fools, we support young people with social and emotional needs and neurodivergence, so looking back, there’s a pretty clear link between volunteering and where I’ve ended up! 
 
More recently, I’ve volunteered at my local Park Run as a course marshal – cheering runners on as they pass and giving them an extra boost of motivation. I’ve loved giving back to a community organisation that means a lot to me. There’s something really special about encouraging someone and watching them dig deep to reach the finish line. ​

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Jess Whittle
“It was so exciting being part of a proper professional performance” 

Whilst I was at university, I was a volunteer performer with theatre company November Club in their immersive show ‘The Unlocked Door’. I was involved in the making of the show, as well as performing at Seaton Delaval Hall across 3 nights for a public audience. It was so exciting being part of a proper professional performance, especially one that was so unique. 
 
I hadn’t really considered immersive theatre as something I would be particularly interested in, but I absolutely loved it. The nature of the show meant you had to  improvise and have a quick turnaround in between performances, so it definitely helped develop my ability to work quickly.  
 
It gave me the opportunity to do something I loved whilst experiencing working in a professional environment. I was working alongside people with a range of different experiences in the industry and they had loads of advice and stories. I loved just chatting to them in between shows and during rehearsals. And by the time I left university I had already started building connections in the industry I wanted to work in.  
 
When I signed up to volunteer, I didn’t really know what to expect or what would come of it. It turned out I was the only person who signed up, so I ended up having more involvement in the project than I initially expected! You never know what might happen or what you might take from the experience, so just make the most of it.  ​

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We hope these stories have inspired you to give volunteering a go or reflect on your own journey!

Be sure to check out the Volunteers Week website for stories and resources to help you celebrate volunteering and the important people that have impacted you or your organisation Click here to find out more about Volunteers Week.

If you'd like to find volunteering opportunities in your area check out:

Northumberland Community and Voluntary Action (NCVA) champions volunteering and voluntary organisations. Thousands of people across Northumberland contribute through voluntary groups supported by NCVA. 
Click here to visit the NCVA website

North Tyneside VODA can help you mind meaningful volunteering opportunities that suit you. Click here to visit the VODA website

​Volunteer Centre Newcastle promotes supports and celebrates volunteering in Newcastle. Click here to visit Volunteer Centre Newcastle