Nicola, lawyer

Bristol, February 2022

"At most law firms you get a volunteering day, so I've always done that but realistically with the hours I do I've never really been able to commit to volunteering". It's a common barrier for people when it comes to volunteering. In surveys carried out by the Royal Voluntary Service nearly half of respondents confirmed this. Nicola changed jobs during the pandemic and unexpectedly found herself with a period off work between roles that coincided with the call to help with the vaccination programme.

"I only did three shifts but they were twelve hour shifts". To put this in context the average volunteer in the UK gives up eight hours of their time a month. Nicola was asked by her husband's aunt, a retired GP, if she would help out as they were short of volunteers. "I kind of had a bad run of it at work, and I've been signed off sick with stress. So when Jackie asked me to do I didn't really want to. But then I went and my job that first day was sanitizing people's hands as they came in and keeping the queue spread out. And at the end of the day I just felt so much better". Like the age old saying goes, hard work is good for the soul.

At a time when the pandemic felt overwhelming to many people being able to help became very important to people. "It felt like a really positive thing to do. You were helping people. This actually felt like a tiny contribution"

What's amazing is how often people who volunteer make self sacrifices to help others. Nicola was shielding in the first lockdown and despite this chose to spend three long days in a vaccination centre as part of a wider benefit. "I'm not just going to clap, I'm going to try and come and do something".