26 Jul 2024
We visited Café CLIP earlier this month at Market Rasen to meet Alison, Mandy and Peter. We chatted about the difference Peter has made in the café volunteering. We asked Peter to tell us a little bit about himself. “I am 40 years old and I live with my parents. I have been unemployed for the past two years. I play pool and darts for the local teams here in Market Rasen.”
Alison who works with Peter said “Peter has been with us since January this year, he started off volunteering for two hours a week. Peter has fitted right into our team. He has progressed so that we now pay him when either myself or Mandy are off. Even when he’s not required, he comes in everyday to volunteer with us. We have seen Peter's confidence grow from strength to strength, week on week. He’s great interacting with our customers and ourselves. Mandy and I both feel supported by him. When either of us are off he just knows what is required and is not scared to ask questions. He is a joy to have working along side of us and is an asset to the café here in Market Rasen”. Mandy, who also works with Peter, added “Peter is a joy to work with. He’s incredibly hard working, polite and friendly and works on his own intuition. He has become a real asset to our team.”
Peter started studying a range of different courses at CLIP Market Rasen last year and has also been nominated for the learner of the year award 2024. Peter took some time to answer our questions about his journey.
How did you get into volunteering at Café CLIP?
The tutor teaching me at CLIP asked me to look into volunteering because my self-confidence and personal health were really low at the time. They asked if I wanted to volunteer at the café and I said yes I would be interested. Here we are three months down the line and I’m really enjoying it. I come into the café Monday to Wednesday and if they’re short staffed then they ask me to come in and help out which I gladly accept. I did a lot of courses at CLIP, mainly to do resilience and achieving goals. I’ve also completed my Level Two food safety course here and my Level Three emergency first aid in the workplace. I have completed nearly 10 courses in total since September last year.
How long have you been volunteering and what is your role?
I’ve volunteered here for just over three months and I mainly serve drinks, wash the pots, clear the tables and wipe them down. I enjoy every single bit of it, especially working with Alison and Mandy. I see a lot of people I know and it’s nice to meet new people and chat with them too. Everything works really, really well here.
What is the most rewarding thing about being a volunteer?
The most rewarding thing is seeing happy customers smiling and enjoying themselves. . There are quality foods and drinks coming out and I enjoy serving them. Volunteering here has helped my physical and mental health massively and it has really changed my life for the better.
What are you looking forward to doing in the future?
I’m thinking about going into catering. I used to be a caretaker and was doing a lot of outside work, but personally I felt low and depressed and needed a change of career.
What advice would you give to anyone looking to volunteer?
My advice would be to have a chat with your work coach at the job centre or pop into CLIP. You can research voluntary work online to see what opportunities there are. If there’s something you like, reach out to them. There’s a lot of friendly people who can help you.