Volunteer Centre
Volunteer Centre Leeds can give you support and advice on finding volunteering opportunities. They can also give you confidential advice on volunteering
- when on benefits
- with a criminal background
- when from overseas or
- anything else that you are worried will affect your volunteering ability
Volunteer Centre Leeds is located in Leeds city centre at Enterprise House, 12 St Pauls Street, LS1 2LE.
Opening hours
- Mondays 10am – 3pm
- Tuesday 10-am - 3pm
- Wednesday 11am - 2pm
- Thursday 10am - 3pm
- Friday 10am - 3pm
You can email us at volunteering@val.org.uk or look at the website where you can see lots of volunteering opportunities in your area www.do-it.org.uk.
Volunteer Centre Leeds is run by Voluntary Action-Leeds. Voluntary Action-Leeds provides direct support, services and advice to voluntary and community groups in Leeds
2011 is the European Year of Volunteering, an initiative supported by Leeds City Council and Voluntary Action Leeds.
Find out more about volunteering in the Arts or Health sector. Come to the event on Tuesday 1 November at Test Space. For more information, download the flyer on this page.
European Year of Volunteering 2011 in Leeds
The European Commission has designated 2011 as the European Year of Volunteering. This is a celebration of the amazing work being done by volunteers and an opportunity to promote volunteering and encourage more people to get involved. In Leeds this follows on from the Leeds Year of Volunteering 2010 and enables us to celebrate and promote all that is best about volunteering in our city.
Volunteering, whether of time or of money, is vital for the health of Leeds. Volunteering helps us connect with friends, neighbours and communities. It helps make communities more cohesive. There is also a considerable economic benefit - the annual value of volunteering in Leeds has been estimated (conservatively) at £80.5 million per year.
Volunteering is always important but is especially vital at a time when other resources are scarce - the economy is still only recovering slowly, unemployment is still rising and there are public expenditure reductions.
Volunteering cannot replace paid work but volunteering organisations can and do a great job tackling some of the difficult issues faced by society. In Leeds, organisations like St Georges Crypt, Leeds Asylum Seekers Network, Simon on the Streets, Big Issue in the North, Urban Sprawl, the Citizens Advice Bureau and Childline all tackle poverty and homelessness on our doorsteps.
During 2010 and 2011 we have been celebrating volunteering in Leeds; this has been a partnership effort and it has been a great success. The number of people wanting to undertake volunteering has increased by 25 per cent over the last two years according to our data, whereas nationally these levels have fallen. We have a new Volunteer Centre Leeds based on St Pauls Street in Leeds now open 5 days per week. We have run 150 events that have been attended over 7000 people from all walks of life.
During 2011 there are a number of themes celebrating different aspects of volunteering. Each theme runs throughout the year with a focus on the following: Poverty and Homelessness; Children and Young People; Environment; Sport; Culture and Arts and Health and Social Care
Information about what is happening in Leeds is available at Leeds Year of Volunteering.
For any further details please contact:
Volunteer Centre Leeds on 0113 395 0405 or email volunteering@val.org.uk