Help From Seniors
Change The World From Just Your Armchair
There are quite a few activities out there that benefit a worthy cause, without getting out of your favourite armchair! Beneficiaries of this type of volunteering include, but are not limited to, very sick children, homeless people, animal welfare etc. They go under the fancy name of microvolunteering, as they can be performed in sessions of up to 30 minutes at a time.
If you’re a senior citizen looking for something worthwhile to do that doesn’t involve traditional volunteering or you care for people, perhaps in a residential home, you might want to check out these type of activities as part of an overall activity programme you provide. It will certainly add 
a whole new purpose and meaning to someone’s day, especially if they knew that they could help somebody out without moving from their chair. And guess what – it’s all free to use!
So What’s Out There?
There are over 800 microvolunteer actions to choose from on our database. We’ve homed in on over 40 we feel could be a valuable addition within an activities programme. Click on a category below that interests you, to be taken to a brief list of actions and their associated beneficial stimuli.
Free Downloadable Booklet
Alternatively, we’ve included all of the actions within a FREE downloadable booklet for your convenience, that provides a lot more information about each activity on individual Activity Cards that if you wish, can be individually cut out. Details like how long the activity takes, it’s impact on society, beneficial stimuli to the participant, what materials are needed etc, etc are all included. It could be used either:
- as a hand out to individuals
- as a discussion point at meetings or
- left at a suitable location for people to browse through?
All of the activities will need access to the internet, either because that’s the medium through which the action is conducted or it’s the method needed to obtain the necessary instructions to complete an action offline.
If you’re concerned about what the factors are that we use to determine the suitability of an organisation, action or worthy cause to be included on our database, then please click on the preceding links for more information. We think you’ll be pleasantly reassured!
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Has ‘Help From Seniors’ helped any organisations?
Let us know if you’ve used our ‘Help From Seniors’ project and we’ll add you to our growing list of organsiations doing good from just their armchair!
Hallmark Care Homes – “…found some very useful items, also some very useful links to other websites…”
Home Manager, Ashleigh Court care home, Wrexham
Action for M.E. – “Even though I am housebound, I’m still able to feel that I am making a difference. This site is great for people with M.E. looking for somewhere simple and easy to start.”
Shaw Trust – “micro-volunteering can be one small way of showing they (disadvantaged people) can make a difference,without feeling under pressure to perform.“
Sue John, Employment Adviser, Shaw Trust
NHS / Dept of Health – Featured in their ‘Dignity Champions Action Pack’ as part of the Dignity in Care campaign
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Nominet Trust published a major report in November, 2011 ‘Ageing and the use of the internet’ that looked into the current engagement and future needs of senior citizen’s usage of the internet. One of it’s findings concluded that not much information is known on the extent of ICT (information and communication technology) use in older people, whilst one of it’s main recommendations stated,
“We need to develop and support practices that adopt practical ways of motivating and helping older people to access and use computers and the internet….”
We feel that our Help From Seniors project is addressing quite a few of the issues raised in the report and contributing to the overall awareness of what senior citizens can engage in, via ICT.
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Feedback
We are grateful for any feedback, constructive or otherwise (but preferably constructive) on any aspect on the Helping From Seniors project!
Just use the Contact Us page to let us know your thoughts.
We’re also after your opinions on microvolunteering in a senior citizen environment. We’d be very grateful if you could please complete a short survey:
- 8 multiple choice questions
- 2 minutes max to complete
- Answers are completely anonymous
The Last Word
The ‘Help From Seniors’ project is a subsidiary project of the Help From Home initiative. It’s soul aim is to encourage and inspire people to live a more meaningful life in their more senior years.