Volunteer Drivers

Volunteer Role Description

Volunteer Driver - Groups

Volunteer Role                                       Volunteer Driver

Receives Support from                           Volunteer Coordinator (Groups)

Volunteer Manager

Other Cam Sight staff

Location of volunteering                       Community venues across Cambridgeshire & Peterborough (unless specific venue/ town name identified)

Closing date                                            1^st May

Taster Session                                         Individual/ by arrangement

About Cam Sight

Cam Sight is a Cambridgeshire charity that supports local people of all ages living with low vision and blindness to live the lives they choose. We work to enhance independence, improve well-being, and improve inclusion. We work within our framework of 5 values, which are that we are person-centred, empowering, friendly, collaborative, and accountable.

About Volunteer Driving at Cam Sight

Our Service users affected by sight loss are often reliant on friends and family, or community transport to help them get out and about. With Cambridgeshire being a rural county, and funding or service provision limited in both areas, some of our Service users still struggle to get to their appointments and to our peer support groups. We have received funding to support the development of our community transport scheme offering our Service users greater access to services and social events. Our team of volunteer drivers, using their own or our eco-friendly vehicles, help get Service users to where they need to be, thus reducing isolation and improving their social connections and wellbeing.

Purpose of role

Using your own vehicle, you would collect our client from their home and take them to their peer support group or other appointment. If driving a client to one of our monthly Peer Support Groups you could be taking several Service users who live close together. You would be responsible for guiding them to and from the vehicle, settling them in comfortably (we will give you training on how to be a sighted guide) and completing vehicle checks before you start your collections that day. You are welcome to stay at the group (approx. 2 hours) while it takes place – some volunteers like to take on both roles and help at the group, but that is not expected.

Tasks:

If volunteering in this role, we’d ask you to;

-       Liaise with Volunteer Coordinator (Groups) and/ or your regular Service users before the meeting to confirm who you will be transporting.

-       Be a sighted guide to ensure the Service users you collect can safely and comfortably move to and from the vehicle. (Training will be provided at General Induction).

-       Be good at timekeeping. You’ll ensure the Service users you are transporting arrive on time and be there to take them home at the end of the meeting.

-       Talk to/listen to your Service users, making them feel comfortable in your company.

-       Ensure that safety and basic maintenance checks of the vehicle are undertaken before the vehicle is taken out on the road.

-       Be happy to report to us your volunteer hours and mileage driven so we can share this with our funders and track success of the project.

We are looking for:

-       Someone happy to follow procedures around checking of the vehicle at the start of the volunteer duty (these are normally visual checks).

-       You will have a current and legal driving license.

-       You will have an approachable manner and ensure whomever you interact with at any time feels comfortable around you.

-       Always maintain strict confidentiality.

-       Ability to work with volunteers and others as a part of a team.

To consider:

-       Service users may bring their Guide Dogs with them - something to consider if you have allergies or a fear of dogs, please talk to us about this, as we will look to match you with someone that doesn’t need a guide dog.

-       Most groups are two hours in duration. You are welcome to stay for the group or come back to collect the Service users that you are transporting.

-       Groups are held monthly in the same venue and at the same time.

Recruitment and Induction Process:

Fill in an application form and we’ll call you for a chat on the phone. If the situation looks beneficial to us both, as is most often the case, we’ll look to invite you to the next meeting so you can see the building, meet the Volunteer Coordinator and the other volunteers. If mutually happy then we’ll continue to Cam Sight’s general induction process.

After this there will then be a role-specific induction for you, where we will go over the specific items that relate to your role (including Health and Safety).

Checks

Our volunteer roles are subject to a DBS check (the level of check depends on your volunteer role and is risk assessed). We also ask for two references before you get started with volunteering. For our volunteer drivers we will also look to conduct a check of your driver’s licence.

At general induction you can expect:

-       More information about Cam Sight, who we are, what we do and the services we provide.

-       Information about policies relating to volunteering such as volunteer expenses (you will also receive your volunteer handbook/ e-access).

-       General GDPR and Safeguarding training.

-       Information about Cam Sight’s on-going support and training for volunteers.

What you will gain:

-       (We hope) a sense of satisfaction from helping others.

-       Greater understanding of sight loss and how that affects people.

-       Knowledge of a range of eye conditions.

-       CV skills and after 6 months a reference should you choose to move on

-       Friendship and entry into a community of supportive and friendly people, motivated by helping others.