SKILLS & REQUIREMENTS

This article outlines the skills & requirements of each of the four volunteering options at the Stitch Community.

GROW THE COMMUNITY

Community Champion Volunteers

Community Champion Volunteers help create and grow the community in their local area (and sometimes beyond), by engaging with and connecting other members through Stitch activities and interest groups.

Community Champion Volunteers are active members of the Stitch Community, which means they must meet the criteria for being a Stitch member. That means:

  • They must be at least 50 years old
  • They must not be using their membership of Stitch for commercial purposes

To be a Community Champion Volunteer you must also:

  • be an outgoing and social person who enjoys the company of others
  • be a little tech savvy. We don’t need you to be an expert in using computers, but knowing how to use the Stitch website is important

Extra bonus points if you have:

  • experience organizing activities
  • a track record of doing good/volunteering, or an interest in social causes
SPREAD THE WORD

Community Evangelist Volunteers

Community Evangelists help spread the word about Stitch, raise awareness of the community, and help get new members to join or community organizations to participate.

Community Evangelists raise awareness in a range of different ways, including assisting at exhibitions, speaking with the media, handing out flyers, and hosting information sessions about Stitch. That means the requirements for becoming a Community Evangelist are quite broad. They typically include:

  • Being passionate about addressing loneliness & isolation in your local community
  • Ideally being a member of Stitch, so you can talk about it from personal experience (although this is not essential)
  • Having good communication skills
ONE-ON-ONE COMPANIONSHIP

Community Enabler Volunteers

Community Enablers are people who assist individual members of the community who face barriers which prevent them from fully participating in the Stitch Community.

Community Enablers are trusted to assist some of the most vulnerable members of the community on a one-to-one basis, so the requirements to become this type of volunteer are quite strict, and include:

  • Age 25 or above (no maximum age limit)
  • Have completed a Police Background Check
  • Prior volunteering experience
  • Are empathetic, trustworthy, and can demonstrate at least basic technological skills.
SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Community Expert Volunteers

Community Experts have skills or expertise they would like to contribute to the Stitch Community to help make it successful.

There really is no limit to the sorts of things which Community Expert Volunteers can get involved in, so everyone with a desire to put their skills to use to address loneliness and social isolation in their local communities is welcome to apply.

So far volunteers have included former CEOs, sales and marketing experts, and aestheticians.