It’s Volunteers Week from 3-9 June. We couldn’t do what we do without our amazing team of volunteers. This week, we’re highlighting some of our volunteer roles to showcase the work they do:
Meet Karin, Volunteer Fundraiser
Karin, originally from Scotland, has spent much of her life in Manchester. She worked as a team manager at IBM for more than 18 years. After leaving IBM, she followed her passion for travelling the world to teach English. This new career path saw her volunteering in Africa, India, and Central America. She returned to Manchester in 2009.
Soon after her return, Karin started volunteering with FareShare Greater Manchester. “I love food and am environmentally aware and very conscious about not wasting food. So I Googled ‘food charities’ and FareShare Greater Manchester popped up,” she says.
Karin’s first role with us involved working in the warehouse. However, her career experience in finance and project management made her better suited to fundraising. During the 15 years Karin has been with us, she has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The best thing about volunteering for FareShare Greater Manchester
“It has to be the people you meet – they’re a great bunch with a great ethos. They’re funny and there’s a good diversity of people” says Karin.
Most of Karin’s time with us is spent applying for grants. Each grant application is different, with varying expectations and requirements. To simplify the process, Karin started using AI to help write the applications.
Highlights of her time volunteering
Karin finds it gratifying to see more people becoming aware of us now. She says, “Fundraising and applying to charitable trusts and foundations is a tough process. It’s very gratifying to see the number of people who set themselves a challenge individually to raise funds for us.” Many people have run marathons and undertaken various sporting challenges to raise funds for FareShare Greater Manchester.
Advice for anyone thinking of volunteering
Karin says she has had many conversations about volunteering over the years and has this advice; “find something that interests you, something that you have a connection with”.
Despite being retired, Karin keeps very busy volunteering for several charities around the Greater Manchester area. In addition to her work with us, Karin has volunteered in a school, a hospital shop, as a respite carer and as a volunteer gardener too.
If reading Karin’s story has got you thinking about volunteering, please get in touch!
