School Aid community

Volunteering is at the heart of who we are. The individuals who are prepared to give their time to School Aid are very special to us – an astonishing number of them have been helping us out for many years.

Support like this makes a very big difference not just for the work they do, but also for the skills they bring. We value everything, and we are proud to give back to the community.

 

Duke of Edinburgh Award

Volunteering is often an activity taken on by the more mature – usually because retirees and parents whose children have left home have a little more time to give. That’s why we’re always delighted to welcome younger DofE volunteers on the lookout for ways of helping their community and making a difference to others.

 

Summer placements, work experience and internships

School Aid is an excellent place to gain work experience, whether you’re looking for a busy office environment or you want to learn about the challenges and logistics associated with charitable work in Africa. From learning how to efficiently pack boxes in the warehouse; managing volunteers; organising shipments that comply with their country-specific regulations; organising fund raising events; through to the crucial work of keeping our monitoring and evaluation statistics up-to-date, every day is different and our most recent intern is now working with us full time.

 

Volunteer drivers

One of our most valuable and committed sponsors is The Entertainer toy shop. Their generosity in allowing us to make use of their huge transport network gives our supporters a stress-free means of donating.

However, even they cannot accommodate all our needs, so we are lucky enough to have a dedicated van that continuously drives up and down the country picking up donations and returning them to our warehouse.

 

August family open days

We value the commitment of our volunteers, many of whom have been coming for years, but we are always on the lookout for more supporters. That’s why our family open days that we hold during the holidays not only provide an outlet for parents with bored children, they also introduce our work to the younger generation. We offer a day of getting your hands dirty with packing and stacking; exciting quizzes and games; arts and crafts for special school projects; and our biscuit collection is quite extraordinary at break times.