Legacy
Legacy
Please note: this post is 24 months old and The Cares Family is no longer operational. This post is shared for information only
Following two and a half years of disconnection and unsettling times it finally feels like things have started to settle down. So, I thought it would be a good time to write a blog about ‘a day in the life’ as the Senior Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator for Liverpool Cares.
I’ve been with Liverpool Cares since October 2018, and this role has allowed me to meet, greet and connect with so many older and younger neighbours in this city. As with any project, it’s full of highs and lows – peaks and troughs and wins and flops! The core focus of a Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator is to find, welcome and signpost new neighbours in various communities across our city into our network, providing opportunities for younger and older people to come together and share time, laughter and new experiences with one another – helping to combat loneliness and isolation across Liverpool.
At The Cares Family, we hold five core values – and I apply these five values to my role every day, in how I represent Liverpool Cares across the city. These values are: The only main constant in the program is it’s core values: kindness, community, bravery, learning and trust. My role as a Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator is very broad - it underpins both our core programmes Social Clubs and Love Your Neighbour – as well as our community partner relationships across the city. Without further ado, here’s my “day in the life”:
8am: My day starts with a email check in (and a massive mug of tea!), answering any urgent requests – including any younger neighbour or community partner questions. These might be from existing younger neighbours, or new ones in the pipeline.mails from Community Partners can include referral queries, follow-ups forbooking in any outreach meetings, or just general information sharing.
11am: Check in with my to do list or tackle a task time. I plan my diary a few weeks in advance so my tasks can be anything from some Salesforce administration to researching areas of Liverpool where we hope to conduct some targeted outreach. At the point, we’re focusing a lot of our time in North Liverpool. Most recently, I’ve also been working on enhancing our technology offer to help older neighbours navigate the digital world, so I’ve been working on researching and coordinating some external technology sessions to help support our Project iPad which launched in December 2021. I’ve been hatching a plan with our neighbours at the Baltic Creative Agent Marketing Academy and Include IT Merseyside!
12.15pm: Telephone time. I can receive anything from 2 -10 phone calls in a day, usually from older neighbours, community partners and referrers. I take some dedicated time to return any calls I’ve missed, and tackle any interventions that need to take place internally or externally. These can be anything from signing neighbours into our network to booking neighbours onto social clubs for the month, or referring out neighbours to community partners such as Good Gym, The Brain Charity, or Careline.
1pm: Lunchtime! I’m a massive advocate of taking a proper lunch break and getting away from my laptop, which might mean anything from taking a walk, practicing a quick yoga session (definitely a working from home situation!), taking in the news stories from the day, or maybe a 15 minute meditation to help calm my thoughts.
2pm: An afternoon outreach meeting with Norma from the Rotunda - a new community partner we’re hoping to work with. We chat about some proactive outreach with two of the older people’s groups that take place there, The Kirkdale Kickers (a bingo group) and the Knitwits (a knitting group). We also discuss holding a Social Club in the community cafe as part of our regular monthly programme, where we’ll bring younger and older members of our network to the space to enjoy a creative activity together.
4pm: Back to my desk for the last part of the day to check my emails and check in with my team (usually on Teams!). I usually use this time to review my calendar for the rest of the week – that includes a Younger Neighbour Induction on September the 14th and multiple meetings and presentations with community partners we’re hoping to work more closely with.
There’s so much more to the Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator role which isn’t easily written down on a task list – such as being an active listener with our neighbours, daily problem solving, and adjusting to changing external situations, challenges, and experiences.
What’s most wonderful about my role is feeling so connected to the people I share this city with This is something I never would’vehad the opportunity to feel without being in this role. Each day is different to the next, which keeps the job interesting, vibrant and something that I’m forever learning from.
