One-off Volunteering

My name is Emma Lindner. I joined KUSU Volunteering at Kingston University at the beginning of my second year. I had done some volunteer work at college and missed doing something other than reading textbooks and going to lectures so I thought it would be a good idea to get involved! 

Since joining I have done a number of one-off events such as helping as a steward at the Bloomsbury Festival, building a Santa’s Grotto in the Children’s ward at Kingston Hospital and some orchard management and tree planting at Dorich House. I also recently volunteered to raise money for the charity Momentum in the town centre and got involved in a number of events during Student Volunteering Week including walking the retired grey hounds at Hersham Hounds!

Emma and Fay volunteering at Bloomsbury Festival

As you can tell, there are a huge variety of activities you can get involved in especially doing the one-off events. This is just one of the reasons I volunteer, there are so many opportunities to learn something new, meet new people and of course that warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you’ve helped someone else! There is also that inevitable cliché we are all familiar with: it looks great on the CV! We’ve all heard it before but it is true that employers want to see you did something other than go to lecture theatres and bars during your time at university and so volunteering shows that you are an interesting person worth hiring! 

Another great thing about the one-off events is that you can fit them in whenever you have time which is great if you’re not sure you can make a commitment to something more permanent. You are guaranteed a lot of fun and I’ve made some good friends from volunteering so I would advise anybody thinking about getting involved to go ahead and do it! You won’t regret it!