Case study: Heather Thorn
Heather has been a volunteer for the disaster relief charity ÔShelterBoxÕ since September 2005.
She has lived in Cornwall for roughly 12 years and moved to spend time with her family. Heather is retired and feels she can be fairly flexible with her time. Working on reception at ShelterBox, she regularly helps out with admin, takes messages, answers the phone and often welcomes visitors. In addition to these tasks she is happy to undertake any task and also shows small groups of visitors around the warehouse making them more familiar with what the charity does. She also helped co-ordinate the Òfriends of ShelterBoxÓ scheme
ÒI come in one day a week regularly but much more when a disaster strikes, for example after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti I was practically full time for 3- 4 months.Ó Heather talks about how times can get hectic when working for a disaster relief charity.
Heather says she is Òvery proud to be a small part of such a great organisationÓ and hopes that by offering encouragement and enthusiasm she can help ShelterBox in many ways. Even though ShelterBox is developing and expanding rapidly, she enjoys working with lovely staff and in an environment with a family feel.
Her motivation for volunteering with ShelterBox comes from the opportunities it gives to offer practical support for people in need and would definitely recommend volunteering to others.