Volunteers play a vital role in ALONE. Our strong community of volunteers help us support hundreds of older people in need every week.
Volunteers in ALONE
Volunteers play a vital and active role in all of ALONE’s services and are involved in every level of the organisation from the Board to front line services. All ALONE volunteers are trained and receive ongoing support from ALONE’s staff and experienced mentors. We receive no Government funding for our day-to-day activities so we rely solely on the generosity of the public to continue our work.
ALONE welcomes volunteers from all backgrounds, cultures and ethnicity as we believe in the importance of being representative of the whole community and appreciate the value that this diversity brings.
Volunteer Roles
Select any of the roles below to see more information, including responsibilities and tasks. For further information, please contact us.
Befriending Volunteer
Overall Role: ALONE’s Befriending Volunteers provide companionship to an isolated older person through a weekly volunteer visit. This service is designed to alleviate the negative impacts loneliness has on mental and physical health.
The Role of the Befriending Volunteer is to:
Befriend and provide companionship to the older person with whom you have been matched (visits are approximately one hour per week).
Provide practical support for the older person where necessary. (Volunteers are not substitutes for home-help or care assistants and should NOT take on the roles of these professionals.)
Support the older person you visit when attending ALONE social events.
Support the older person to become more engaged in their local community – such as informing them of local groups and initiatives for older people in the area. ALONE will support volunteers in accessing this information.
Act as an advocate for the older person where necessary (In relation to issues such as housing, health, personal safety, leisure and culture). This might simply mean making a call on behalf of an older person or helping them with an application form.
Contact the ALONE office if the volunteer has concerns for the older persons health, safety and welfare.
Full training and support is provided. We do ask for a commitment of 1 year.
Project Member - ALONE Holiday
Overall Role: To support the Coordination of the running of the ALONE Holiday. The Project Member will be supported in this role by a Project Leader, Team & by staff.
Tasks:
- To help organise the ALONE holiday yearly (May/June of each year),
- The events will be organised based on the Model for Holiday Planning and the policies and procedures of ALONE (i.e. Eligibility for Attending Socials, etc.),
- To ensure follow through on tasks allocated by Project Leader,
- To attend meetings of the Project Team as required,
- To help develop ideas for the holiday,
- To provide the Volunteer Coordinator with feedback to help develop policies and procedures in relation to the ALONE Holiday,
- To agree the budget for with events team and the Volunteer Coordinator & to link with the VC as required,
- To support with review & evaluation of Holiday once a year (Guest feedback essential),
- To carry out a handover if stepping down from this role with the new Project for the ALONE Holiday.
Eligibility/Requirements for Project Leader Role:
- Volunteers should be with ALONE for at least 1 year and have been actively volunteering with the organisation during this time.
- All Project Leaders must have completed the Volunteer Core Training.
Practical Issues:
Time Commitment: This role will be time-intensive leading up to the holiday and will include attendance on the holiday. Project Members will be in place for a minimum of a 1 year period. Office Space: Volunteer ‘hot-seats’ are available in the ALONE office for Volunteers to come in and make their phone-calls if needed, to write up notes, use computers, etc.
Admin: Administration for holiday (mail-outs/list management) will continue to be carried out by the ALONE Administrator.
Expenses: Project Members will be reimbursed for all out-of-pocket expenses.
School Talks Volunteer
Overall Role: To carry out ALONE School Talks and Information Presentations as part of the Information and school talks team.
Key Tasks of Schools Talks Volunteer:
- To carry out school and information talks on behalf of ALONE (volunteers will have the opportunity to shadow other speakers initially),
- To give talks to schools as requested,
- To use the presentation as supplied by ALONE,
- To link with the ALONE Fundraising Assistant regarding booking of presentations,
- To provide feedback to the Fundraising Assistant on each school talk in a timely fashion (within 1 week of talk talking place),
- To meet as a group 2-3 times per year to review and evaluate the school talk process,
- To make calls if required to schools who would have received a letter on the school talks,
- To put forward suggestions for the development of presentations and the Information Project Team.
Practical Issues:
Time Commitment: 8-10 talks during the school year minimum.
Office Space: Volunteers are able to come in to the ALONE office and make their phone-calls if needed, to write up notes, use computers, etc.
Admin: Administration for school talks/presentations will continue to be carried out by the ALONE Administrator and Fundraising Assistant.
Expenses: Volunteers will be reimbursed for all out-of-pocket expenses.
Support for volunteers: Support/Supervision/Role Review will be carried out by the Volunteer Coordinator and or Fundraising Assistant where necessary. Each volunteer will be met at least once a year for 1-to-1 supervision, with additional supervision as required.
Large Events Transport Coordinator
Overall Role: To lead the organization of transport to and from ALONE social events. Coordinate buses and volunteers to collect older people to ensure their safe transit.
Tasks:
- To work in partnership with the Large events team and to attend team meetings
- To assist at each large event (Spring, Summer and Christmas dinner dance and Annual ALONE holiday)
- To coordinate the collection and return of Older People to and from the event
Requirements:
- Willingness to be interviewed, Garda Vetted and Trained in line with ALONE requirements.
- Excellent organisational skills
- Good IT skills, particularly with Microsoft Office
- Availability during the working day
- Willingness to be flexible with availability around times/dates of events.
- Previous experience in logistics is a bonus
Property Maintenance Support
Overall Role: To support the Property Maintenance Department
Tasks:
- Manage Maintenance Service with other volunteers and ensure that specs have been completed an all properties; measure and complete written spec
- To add Property History to all Property Files where necessary
- To reconcile keys for all properties; label all keys and discard those not in use
- To complete a Health and Safety refresher with all residents and document accordingly
- To complete Annual Maintenance Checklist an all properties
- To carry out a handover if stepping down from this role.
Eligibility/Requirements for Property Maintenance Intern role:
- Previous building and/or Quantity Surveyor technical experience desirable
- Computer literate – Word, Excel, Outlook.
- Good interpersonal skills
- Strong organisational and written skills
- Must have own car and full clean driving licence
- Own measuring instrument and camera desirable
- Ability to work on own initiative
Practical Issues:
Time Commitment: 6 months (2-3 days per week)
Office Space: Time will be allocated for person to complete administration duties
Expenses: Volunteers/Interns will be reimbursed for all out-of-pocket expenses.
Support for volunteers: Support/Supervision/Role Review will be carried out by the Volunteer Co-ordinator and or Finance Officer where necessary. Each volunteer will be met at least once a year for 1-to-1 supervision, with additional supervision as required.
Communications Intern
Communications Intern
The ALONE Communications intern will assist the Communications and Campaigns Coordinator with all aspects of communications, advertising and marketing. The ideal candidate would be energetic, hard-working, social media and web-savvy, and brimming with ideas about creative ways to engage audiences in ALONE’s mission. While helping with a wide range of projects, the successful intern will gain hands-on experience in many aspects of communications, while also gaining a good understanding of an independent non-profit organisation.
This is an unpaid internship.
Research and Policy Intern
Research and Policy Intern
The Research and Policy Intern will play a central role in ALONE’s Campaigns for Change team. ALONE’s Campaigns for Change highlight the rights of vulnerable older people and campaign directly to the government, to the media and at an individual level to affect real policy change. The successful intern will gain hands-on experience in the development of a campaign, from identification, to comprehensive research through to planning for effective communication of the campaign. They will also gain experience in the many aspects of campaigning and lobbying, while also gaining a good understanding of an independent non-profit organisation.
This is an unpaid internship.
Fundraising Intern
Fundraising Intern
The Fundraising Intern will play a central role in ALONE’s Fundraising team. The successful intern will gain hands-on experience in the development of a fundraising campaign, from identification, to comprehensive research through to planning for effective execution of the campaign. They will also gain a good understanding of an independent non-profit organisation.
This is an unpaid internship.
Support Coordination Intern Role
Support Coordination Intern
Support Coordination Intern
The Intern Role will primarily support the daily activities of the Support Coordination Team, and where applicable, the wider ALONE staff team and CEO. The Support Coordination Team manage the operation of Older Person Services in ALONE (Housing Support, Support Coordination and Befriending).
Requirements are either:
- Qualification or working towards a qualification in Social Care or similar,
- relevant experience,
- or willingness to gain experience to support with entry into the social care sector.
This is an unpaid internship.
Receptionist and Administrator Intern
Receptionist and Administrator Intern
The Receptionist Intern is responsible for providing secretarial, clerical and administrative support to ensure that information and services are provided in an effective and efficient manner.
This is an unpaid internship.
Process for applying
Once you have registered your interest on the ‘Contact us’ page you will be invited to attend the next Information Session, which are held every 2-3 months. We will conduct a 1 to 1 interview. An application form and Garda Vetting form is sent out to all who have attended the information session and completed an interview. You will then be invited to our Volunteer Training Session.
Training
The training is one mandatory module. Topics covered include: Setting your own external and internal boundaries, Health and Safety and Listening and Hearing. We also explore the Befriending relationship through role play scenarios.
Time commitment
We would ask that all our volunteers can commit to providing a weekly visit for at least 1 year. This commitment gives the volunteer the opportunity to have a meaningful experience while ensuring continuity of service for older people.
