We believe in meeting people’s basic needs for nutritious food and shelter, while also building positive relationships. We want to provide individuals with opportunities to make the changes they want to make in their lives.

Food is a great way of meeting the needs of people, as well as offering community, a listening ear, and sharing information about other services that people may need. Volunteers are an essential part of making this possible through our afternoon scrans every week.

What will you be doing?: As part of a team of volunteers and Social Bite employees, you will:

• help set up the shop to offer the scran take-away food service.
• serve hot food or drinks to people, who are currently homeless or experiencing food poverty.
• be a friendly face, having brief chats with people as they wait for food.
• share information about other services provided by our partner charities (housing, benefits advice, courses, drug/alcohol support).
• invite people we support to our social suppers (every Thursday).
• help clean up after the scran has finished.

When and where will you volunteer?: Flexible times available to volunteer when Social Scran takes place on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. You would be volunteering from 3pm – 4:15pm on the day(s) you choose to volunteer.

Location: Social Bite shop, 516 Union Street, AB10 1TT, Aberdeen.

Does this sound like you?: You…

• are friendly and able to make sure that everyone feels safe and welcome in the café.
• enjoy engaging with people of all backgrounds.
• do not judge people.
• can work as part of a team.
• do not mind doing different tasks (serving hot drinks, food etc).
• understand personal and professional boundaries, including how to keep these whilst volunteering.
• know the importance of keeping confidentiality as part of your volunteering.

We will provide guidance on how to do the tasks, as well as training on challenging behaviour, boundaries and how to maintain these.

We ask people to volunteer regularly, which can be every week (or every two weeks), depending on your availability. This is to provide familiarity and a consistent service for the people we support.

What can you gain from this volunteering?:

• Be part of a friendly and supportive team
• Develop or enhance your interpersonal skills by engaging with people of all backgrounds
• Contribute actively to providing food to people who needs it
• Develop or enhance your service and catering skills
• Get experience with direct community work
• Meet new people and have opportunities to engage in our social activities for volunteers.
• Opportunities for furthering your learning on different topics related to homelessness.

Your accessibility: Please let us know if you need any support or adjustments to make our first chat together and volunteering a positive experience for you.

Any volunteering expenses for helping with these activities, which have been agreed, will be paid back to you. We cover local travel costs at public transport rate. The café is within walking or wheeling distance of public transport (bus or train). There is no free parking nearby. The café is wheelchair accessible to enter, but we do not have an accessible toilet.

Keeping everyone safe: Our safeguarding policy details our commitment to keeping everyone safe. It is expected of everyone to adhere to these commitments. We expect all volunteers to do our relevant training, so you can help keep yourself and others safe from harm.

A fantastic opportunity and all help makes a real difference for people we support and is greatly appreciated.

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