Volunteering: A Morning at Helping Hands

At Bright, every employee gets one volunteering day a year. This is how two of us used ours!

About Helping Hands

Sally and I chose to volunteer at Helping Hands Community Project, a charity set up in 2015 supporting people facing homelessness, poverty and hardship across Warwickshire. We arrived just before 9am, met Jackie Grove the Fundraising Manager, got the tour, and were in aprons within the hour.
Their Golden Rules set the tone immediately: a warm welcome, a hot meal, unlimited drinks, a space to sit and socialise, and access to support. In return, they just ask for courtesy and respect. Simple. Human. Effective.

The morning

The morning revolved around the breakfast run. Doors open at 10am, and there is a lot to get through before then. We worked alongside Jane, a quietly brilliant volunteer who has shown up every Monday and Wednesday for five years, and whose calm, capable presence in that kitchen was nothing short of wonderful.

Sally ran the drinks station like a pro, serving teas, coffees and hot chocolates. Emily kept the eggs coming at full pace with a technique Gordon Ramsay might critique but the visitors certainly didn’t. People who came in for breakfast enjoyed sausages and bacon generously donated from Coventry Butchers, Aubrey Allen. There is access to showers, washing machines, and somewhere warm to sit and chat. There was a busy buzz in the place and honestly it was really good fun. When the morning quietened down, sweeping up in the calm of the back room brought its own quiet sense of fulfilment after a wholesome few hours.

Donations and a thought on generosity

Donations kept arriving throughout the morning — bags of KFC-style chicken, bunches of flowers, and about 20 uncut sourdough loaves from Sainsbury’s! This prompted a good conversation about the gap between generous intentions and practical reality. Large uncut loaves are tricky when people don’t have access to a kitchen or even a bread knife!

A moment that stopped us both

Then Gail walked past, clocked the donated flowers, and asked if she could take a bunch.

She stood there quietly looking through them and said…

“Now… which ones would my mum like best? Even though she’s been gone a while.”

Everyone walking through those doors is carrying a whole life with them — memories, grief, humour, love. None of us are just the situation we find ourselves in.

What we took away

We left after clearing and cleaning down and genuinely glad, we’d volunteered.

Ask charities what they actually need. Use their wish lists.
Think practically: 20 uncut sourdough loaves are generous but hard to use without a kitchen or a bread knife.
And the biggest thing? A hot drink, a smile, your time. It matters more than you think!

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