Family Volunteering Club

Family Volunteering Club (FVC) creates regular, fun and impactful volunteering
programmes specifically designed for children aged 0 – 9 to do with the adults in their
lives.

From gardening in community spaces and organising clothes donations, to
connecting with isolated older members of the community and helping at food banks –
they create opportunities for children and their grown ups to learn about and practically support local causes.

FVC started in south London and they now also run programmes in Stevenage, Abergavenny and Fenland – and are on a journey to have locally run clubs across the UK.

They want to make civic participation as accessible, easy and part-and-parcel of family life, as, for example, going to a swimming or football lesson, or to the park. Stuart and Benjamin have been going to Family Volunteering Club for a couple of years. They spoke to them about their experience of volunteering with Family Volunteering Club.

What was it that originally attracted you to taking part in Family Volunteering Club?

As we had our baby during the pandemic there were very few opportunities for us to engage with community activities as a family. FVC offered an opportunity for us to visit different community organisations and help them as a family but also find out more about what’s on offer in the local area.

Tell us about some of the sessions you’ve done that have been most impactful on you, and your child?

We made some very happy memories of taking our son to different events – one particular instance was when we helped out at Bee Urban, this led to our son becoming really interested in bees and we have since revisited Bee Urban but our son really enjoys any Bee-related activity.

We also had an opportunity to go pond dipping at Roots and Shoots, we all really enjoyed this and our son was able to see Mosquito larvae, Mosquitos are another insect he has developed an interest in. We have since gone back to various open days and activities at Roots and Shoots and are supportive of the excellent work they do.

How do you think attending FVC has impacted your child?

Through FVC our son has had opportunities to engage with lots of activities and visit lots of settings that he would not have been able to without FVC. The FVC lead also made the sessions fun and included stories and activities that were very thoughtful and helped develop the children’s interests and skills.

Tell us a bit about how coming to FVC has changed your relationship with the different charities that you visited?

None of the community organisations we have visited we had been aware of before, despite living in the area for more than 15 years. It not only put a lot of those organisations on our radar but helped us seek out more volunteering organisations allowing us to get more involved in our community.

Tell us about how yours and your son’s understanding of the charitable cause that you have supported through the programme?

I don’t think we discussed the concept of volunteering much with our son, all he knows is that he can have fun doing things that are helpful for others.

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience of attending FVC?

I think it’s a brilliant initiative and I hope in time they are able to develop long lasting relationships with community organisations and improve access and opportunity for all local families to build and enhance communities.

Thanks for reading! Do you volunteer with your children? We would love to hear about it! Tell us about your family volunteering experiences by sharing your story. It could inspire others to start volunteering!