December is one of the busiest months for us all, especially with all the busy volunteering elves hard at work, time flies by.
As the person who coordinates the Volunteer Story of the Month, this story came through completely spontaneously!
I was shopping for our work ‘Secret Santa’ and came across a most engaging and charming volunteer at St Raphael's Charity Shop at Rosehill.
Victoria, or Vicky to her customers and colleagues, is an example of a real-life twinkling Christmas star (including light up reindeer Christmas jumper!). I was in the shop for a good fifteen minutes and became completely transfixed by her enthusiasm and passion for supporting St Raphael's Hospice, and selling to raise funds for them.
In my short time there, I saw her build rapport and warmth with every customer who entered. I just had ask if I could do an impromptu Christmas video for Volunteer Story of the Month! Lucky both Vicky and her manager Wendy, without any prior warning, said yes!
I’m so grateful they kindly agreed to share a bit of her story, if you want to know more I highly recommend you pop in on a Saturday afternoon and hope to catch her!
Advanced apologies for the choppy editing, we were in a working shop so I tried to cut out most of the excited children noises and also apologies if you can hear my laboured breathing I had just run to the car to switch phones for a better one, but hopefully you watch the video below and become mesmerised and enthused by Vicky about what a fun role it is to volunteer in a charity shop like St Raphael's Hospice.
Vicky has been volunteering on and off for over 10 years and Wendy describes her as: “Fabulous! Customers love her and so do I!” What better praise could you get!
Here are the links to volunteer with St Raphael's Hospice:
Other volunteering roles with St Raphael’s Hospice
Here are some other opportunities to volunteer in shops too:
Oxfam
QEF
St Helier and Epsom NHS Trust, League of Friends shop
Here's her video...
