Volunteering
Your Help Please
As well as encouraging your child with their activities and badges there may be other ways that you can help the leaders in the Group. Specialist skills, help with transport or simply an extra pair of hands on a busy night or outing are always welcome. We run parent rota in Beavers and Cubs and also seek assistance with Scouts and Explorers when required.
Parents of a Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers are automatically members of the Group Council which usually meets once a year for the Annual General Meeting (AGM). Perhaps you might help on the Group Executive Committee, which is elected at the AGM and meets three times a year. The committee looks after funding and the administration of the Group as a whole and each section also has parent representatives to provide feedback back to the leaders and Group.
We also have a HQ Committee which looks after running and maintenance of the building (including bookings). This also meets three times a year as well as running a couple of working parties each year to undertake essential jobs like paint walls/doors, cleaning windows inside and out, pruning and weeding, cutting the grass, repairing the cupboard doors, repairing the curtains, etc. We ask parents, where possible, to spend a hour assisting at these events.
Alternatively you may feel that you are able to offer regular help with Scouting in the Group by becoming a leader or a helper. For more information have a chat with one of the leaders.
Flexible Volunteering
We encourage flexible volunteering at 3rd Epsom Scout Group, in fact we have undertaken job sharing at the sections for many years. Note that you don’t need previous Scouting experience to get involved and working with other adults shares the responsiblity and load. For each new volunteer we need to find out: their skills; their availability; what they want from a volunteering role; what they want/are able to give to the role. Once we know that, and what kind of things people might like to do to help we can more easily match that person with the things we need assistance with.
Please have a read of the different options we have below, and if you’re interested please don’t hesitate to contact us.
We have various kinds of flexible volunteering available. The following are all examples that we could consider.
For adults who can only commit to limited or irregular time each week, there are several options available.
Adults who can’t commit to all the requirements of a conventional role:
Any role can be divided between two or more volunteers. Role sharing can open volunteering opportunities to adults unable to make a regular commitment to Scouting. One example is a leadership team of four run on a rotational basis. Each of the leaders takes it in turns to:
1. Plan and lead the meeting
2. Assist with the planning and running of the meeting
3. Attend and assist with the meeting
4. Babysit for the other leaders’ children who are too young to attend the meeting.
All four are section leaders. Rotating the roles means that each volunteer only has to be involved in the planning for two out of every four weeks. Role sharing can be done with many of the other roles in the Group. Take a look at these videos for some other ideas of how to think differently about volunteering. If any of the above interests you then please contact us.