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What: East End Health is a local health charity which works across the east end of Newcastle, and in the surrounding areas, to tackle health inequalities. The charity has two sides to its work: the Food and Nutrition project aims to provide local primary and preschool children with access to, and an understanding of, the importance of a healthy diet and active lifestyle. Current schemes operating under this project include: the Smoothie Bar project, Free Fruit and Organic Milk schemes, Educational Farm Visits, the School Food Children's Panel and the Students into Schools: Nutrition Education scheme.
The second side to the charity's work is the Healthy Living Project. This project aims to help local individuals to improve their physical and mental health and also to reduce the risk of social isolation throughout the community. The current projects which operate under this scheme are the Complementary Therapy project, the Out and About Stroke group and the Women's Art group.

Volunteer Roles:

1. Women’s Art Group, Volunteer Tutor – we are hoping to find volunteers who have an interest in Arts and Crafts and who would be willing and able to lead some sessions with our Women’s Art Group. The topics taught in the sessions could be devised by the volunteers with the charity covering any associated costs in terms of materials and equipment. Our hope is that students would be able to volunteer for a number of weeks to allow the group to learn a range of skills and techniques from the volunteers and to allow the group to complete a small project on the arts or crafts technique being taught.

The group runs every Friday afternoon between 1pm and 3pm and is open to any women who live in the local area. Group members attend for a variety of reasons including respite from caring responsibilities, mental and physical health problems and also to reduce the risk of them being socially isolated. The group has an established membership but frequently gains new members from across the community. Sessions are completely free to all members with tea and coffee facilities being available also.

2. Out and About Stroke Group, Volunteer Support Worker - As part of our Healthy Living Project we run the Out and About Stroke Group. This group currently runs each Monday and Tuesday and has about 15 regular members. The group is made up of people who live in the communities of Walker, Walkergate, Ouseburn, South Heaton and Byker and who have all suffered from a stroke. Each Monday and Tuesday mornings our charity minibus collects each of the group members from their homes and takes them to various locations across the North East. The project is currently staffed by two trained Support Workers, Shirley and Denyse, but we have also had volunteers for the project in the past.

We are hoping to find a number of volunteers who would like to work alongside our Support Workers to support the group members on their outings. Volunteering for this project would require a full day commitment, usually between 11am and 4pm on a Monday or a Tuesday. Volunteers would not be expected to volunteer every week unless they wished to do so. Volunteers would be expected to act as a guide to group members when walking, to take part in the group’s activities and to socialise with the group members across the day. We are soon hoping to have the Stroke Group running on an additional day each week, probably a Tuesday, and will also be looking for volunteers for this day.

3. Smoothie Bar Volunteer - Our Smoothie Bar Project has been running for over 4 years and takes fresh fruit smoothies into local primary schools, nurseries and playgroups to help children work towards their 5-a-day target, in a fun and exciting way. The project is growing at a rapid rate and in order to continue to meet demand, we are looking for volunteers to help with the preparation of the smoothies. The role will involve washing, chopping and liquidising fresh fruit and as such, some lifting. The role would be ideal for anyone who enjoys working as part of a team and who enjoys working with food.

We are looking for reliable individuals who can give their time each Monday of the school year, to volunteer alongside Julie and Emma, our Smoothie Bar team. Alternatively, we would be happy to have a team of volunteers who each do set weeks of the term.

4. Ministry of Food Worker – This is a brand new project which is being piloted for 6 months with the view to becoming a long term scheme. The role will involve assisting a trained member of staff in the deliverance of a session to approximately 10 members of the public. Duties will include assisting with the prepping of the kitchen, deliverance of the lesson and clearing down of the kitchen area after the session.

There are a number of shifts available, including day time, evenings and weekends. Each shift will last approximately 3 hours and volunteers are free to pick which they want to work and how many.

5. North East Food Discovery Worker – North East Food Discovery is a brand new initiative aiming to inspire children and the community around local food. The project involves five main elements, including farm visits, cook and eat sessions, food growing sessions, interactive talks, and a young entrepreneur’s scheme. Working with six schools per year over the next three years, we are looking for volunteers to provide additional support during sessions. We are also looking for volunteers with experience and / or an interest in food growing to assist in maintenance and development of our food growing training academy based at Cochrane Park.

We would like volunteers to work flexible hours, as many or as little as they would like, as due to staff rotation shift patterns can often change.

Skills/benefits/experience:

- Knowledge of the Voluntary and Community (Third) sector and how such organisations work alongside the statutory sector to provide necessary services to individuals.

- Experience of working with older adults.

- Experience of working with people with disabilities.

- Experience of working with people with mental and physical health problems.

- Ability to develop communication and interpersonal skills.

- Experience of leading taught sessions, essential to those looking to work in the Adult Education sector.