Volunteering with The Safety Centre

Do you want to help this MK charity promote safety awareness? Read on for this guest blog from The Safety Centre:

We are the Safety Centre. We teach people how to stay safe in everyday life and in emergencies.  We share tools to help children and young people make safe choices. Encouraging a lifetime of safe habits and behaviours. We educate in primary and secondary schools taking safety education to children, teachers and parents. We have an interactive education centre, where visitors practice what to do in emergency situations.

We know that practice makes perfect. So we practice escaping a fire. We practice calling 999 in an emergency. We practice the recovery position. We practice crossing the road and getting home safely. We practice what to do if someone’s drowning.

We talk about knife crime. We talk about drugs and alcohol. We talk about violence against women and girls. We talk about online safety. We talk about water safety. We talk about gas safety. We talk about the emergency services.

We give young people the tools to stay safe, for life. We teach adults how to deliver emergency first aid in the community and at work.

Our volunteers are at the heart of our work at Hazard Alley- our interactive safety education centre. Volunteers share safety information that can save lives. They help prepare young people for real life emergencies. Giving them the tools to make safe choices in difficult and dangerous situations.

The Volunteer Roles

Hazard Alley Day and Night Guides

Telephone Volunteer

Social Media Volunteer

Contact the Volunteer Coordinator Tracy to find out more about these opportunities at
volunteerguides@safetycentre.co.uk 01908 714351

Blog Post Volunteering

Volunteering with Unity MK

Could you support people experiencing homelessness in Milton Keynes this Winter?

Unity MK are looking for additional volunteers to join their teams this winter. There are opportunities throughout their night shelter venues, but also at their welfare centre (Unity Park Station) in Central Milton Keynes for the evening café and guest interaction roles (Mon-Sun 5-8pm) and locker attendant roles (Fri, Sat and Sun 7.45am-8.30am).

Head over to their website for further details about all the roles and sign up to make a meaningful difference in the lives of people experiencing homelessness:

🔗 https://www.unitymk.org/volunteerroles

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Searching for a Trustee Role?

As part of Trustees’ Week, a celebration of the positive impact made by Trustees, we’re highlighting available Trustee roles in Milton Keynes. Read on for ways to contribute to some of the organisations making a difference in our city and beyond.

Milton Keynes Centre for Integrated Living are in search of Trustees with lived experience of disability. Read more about their existing, inspiring Trustee board, and find out how you can join them:

https://bit.ly/MKCIL

Q:alliance are seeking a dedicated and enthusiastic person to join their Board of Trustees as Secretary, who’ll use their passion for LGBTQ+ rights to drive positive change. For all the details, click here.

The Arts and Heritage Alliance MK are in search of a Treasurer and Chair, roles where you will be engaging widely with the cultural sector and supporting the development of culture in Milton Keynes with our new status as a city. All the details can be found here.

Milton Keynes Community Cardio-pulmonary Group are also in search of two, new trustees – a treasurer and Vice Chair. If you’d like to find out more, please email tina@mkccg.org

Blog Post Mobilising Communities Shaping Decision Making and Policy Volunteering

Trustees’ Week 2023

Many voices. Working together. With purpose. 

Trustees’ Week is taking place next week, on the 6 – 10 November, and the theme is Many Voices. Working Together. With Purpose. It’s an opportunity to recognise the impactful role of Trustees, and to come together to share learnings and ways to foster trusteeship.

Read on for all the ways we’re marking the week, and how you can get involved.

How we’re celebrating Trustees’ Week

  1. Spreading the Word

If you have vacant trustee roles and would like our support getting to word out, we can promote the opportunity across our social media channels, on our website and in the weekly newsletter which reaches 1300 inboxes. Email support@communityactionmk.org with the role description and contact details.

Getting on Board supports the diversification of boards, providing guidance and empowering individuals from all sectors of society in becoming a trustee. They also provide guidance for organisations in their commitment to recruiting a representative board.

      2.Interested in finding a trustee role?

If you’d like to book a half-an-hour virtual support session to learn more about becoming a trustee, get in touch volunteering@communityactionmk.org

You’ll also find a host of trustee roles advertised on our social media channels next week, or sign up to our newsletter to receive our Trustees’ week bulletin.

Under 30? Check out Young Trustees Movement’s website to find out how you can begin your trusteeship journey.

3. Thanking our dedicated Trustees

Find out more about our Board, and their huge contribution to the work of CA: MK here.

Follow us on X, Facebook and Instagram @ComActMK, for all the latest Trustees’ Week updates.

Blog Post Shaping Decision Making and Policy Volunteering

Could you be the key to a student’s success this year?

Today’s guest blog comes from The Access Project, who help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds gain places at top universities:


Did you know that the educational attainment gap has barely shifted in nearly 20 years?


At The Access Project, we believe that where you come from shouldn’t determine your future.

That’s why we work with dedicated volunteer tutors who change the lives of young people across the country, every year. This year, we need more tutors than ever to help young people achieve their goals.


Could you give an hour a week, online, to support a young person who needs it?

We’ll give you everything you need to succeed as a tutor, including comprehensive training, lesson plans and increased confidence in a subject of your choice. You’ll need to be a university graduate or on the way to completing your degree to take part.


Be the difference a young person needs to succeed. Sign up to become a tutor volunteer at The Access Project here.

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Volunteering with Caudwell Youth

Who are Caudwell Youth?

Caudwell Youth work with at-risk 11–24-year-olds delivering person centred support based on their individual needs. Most young people they see have one or more of the following challenges: mental health, care experienced, at risk of or involved in offending behaviour or at risk of exploitation.

The Volunteer Role

Volunteering your support means working with one young person for 1-2 hours a week, to support them in taking the next steps in their life. This will be a combination of support through messaging/ calling / video calling and meeting up in the community.

The Caudwell Youth team will support you to do this. Each Youth Support Coordinator is responsible for 25-30 volunteers and 25 young people. They also have a Volunteer Coordinator and an Operations Director, so there is always somebody available when you need them.

How can I find out more?

For next steps, more info and online application, click here.

Blog Post Volunteering

The NSPCC is seeking new volunteers in Milton Keynes to help keep children safe

Today’s guest blog comes from the NSPCC, read on for how you can help protect MK school children:

Volunteer support is needed for the charity’s Speak out Stay safe (SOSS) safeguarding programme, which is for children aged 5 to 11 years old and available to all primary schools across the county.


It helps children, in an age-appropriate way, to understand:
- abuse in all its forms and how to recognise signs of abuse
- that abuse is never a child’s fault and that they have the right to be safe
- where to get help and the sources of help available to them, including the NSPCC’s Childline service.

Last year, the NSPCC delivered SOSS online programmes to 20,125 children in more than 80 schools in Buckinghamshire, and is looking for volunteers to train to deliver sessions in person when school starts again in September.


Through assemblies and workshops, children can learn about the different types of abuse in a child-friendly way, so they can get help if or when they need it.

NSPCC staff and volunteers help them identify a safe adult they can talk to if they’re ever worried about themselves or a friend. With the help of mascot Buddy, SOSS covers topics like bullying, neglect and abuse – without using any scary words or adult language.


Sarah Smith a SOSS volunteer from the East of England, said: “I would say that my main enjoyment comes from the interaction with the children. I love their earnest responses and fresh ways of looking at the issues we present.”


Laura Franklin, NSPCC Schools Area Coordinator for Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes, said: “Over the past year counsellors at the NSPCC service Childline delivered almost 200,000 counselling sessions to children, with 23,600 of these sessions estimated to have taken place with young people in the East of England. With the help of the SOSS programme many children may speak out sooner.

SOSS is an effective way to support a school’s safeguarding duties and link directly to the curriculum as well as helping reinforce key messages about abuse and neglect as part of a school’s teaching on relationships.”

For further information about how your school can take part please contact
laura.franklin@nspcc.org.uk

Blog Post Volunteering