When Eva retired from her civil servant job for the Department
of Social Services as a benefits officer, she found herself spending a lot of
time watching TV, cooking and ironing. Eva’s retirement felt quite unfulfilled
so she decided to contact her local volunteer bureau to enquire about doing voluntary
work.
They put her in touch with Age Concern Wandsworth, South West London. Eva now
72 years ‘young’ has
been volunteering with them for five years as a First Stop reception
volunteer .
Eva feels guilty if she cannot volunteer on a particular day as she feels a responsibility
in her work at Age Concern. Eva gets great fulfilment from helping other people
and loves it when a customer calls back to say they have really been helped.
Eva says a disadvantage of working one day a week means you have to keep up with
the changes in the organisation, but Eva enjoys her work because she says
the staff and other volunteers are so nice. Eva says: “It makes my day
when I get a result – when I know what to do to help someone. I love doing
this job!”
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