Volunteer Week: Barbara’s volunteering journey

Volunteers are the backbone of our network of shops, as well as an important part of the public face of our organisation. Oxfam volunteers are making a huge impact every day and each has their own story when it comes to how they started volunteering. Here is Barbara Harper’s volunteering journey. She has volunteered in the Oxfam Holywood Superstore since it opened just over a year ago. 

Why did you decide to start volunteering in Oxfam? 

What’s your favourite part of volunteering? 

“I think it’s meeting the other volunteers probably. Because you come in on the same day each week, you tend to meet the same people and get to know them and their stories. 

“We’ve had quite a lot of people who have been asylum seekers so it’s good to know their stories and what brought them here and how they find the people here. Even casual things, like they’ll ask you the word for something. I could say, I haven't got a gun (to price). And they'll say, “gun” and look and take their phone out to do a translation and I have to say, no, that's not what I mean! It's to price, to put the tags on! So you become more aware of your language and how you use it and so on, because they're learning English as they go along. They're always very good about bringing in their food and things to let you try.” 

“Most of what I do is sorting through the donations and then tagging them. I'm just chatting to people as they bring in the donations. You kind of learn the sort of things that are more saleable than others. And even the brick-a-brac stuff, you wonder if that is valuable or not valuable.”

What would you say to someone who is thinking about volunteering? 

“I would say go for it. It's great to meet other people to learn about the charity. Even if it's only for a couple of hours in the week, do it.”