Volunteer with Crisis this Christmas and be there for someone as they start to build a life beyond homelessness. Whether you are the first person a guest meets when they walk through the door looking for support, or you provide a listening ear and companionship, you’ll be making a real difference.
Crisis works at Christmas and all year round in Merseyside to help people experiencing homelessness find their own stable home and access education and training. Every Christmas, local volunteers come together to provide warmth, companionship and vital services to our members (people experiencing homelessness) at one of the toughest times of the year.
Volunteering opportunities can range from a few hours to multiple days and usually take place in the Crisis Skylight in Merseyside, or in nearby community venues.
We had a range of Christmas events over December 2023 and into early January 2024 and we had support from our wonderful volunteers over this time. This included assisting at events such as trips to the theatre or cinema, driving to deliver gifts to where our members were staying, making wellbeing telephone calls over the holiday period and supporting at our Carol Concert, setting up and meeting and greeting guests.
The homelessness situation in Merseyside has been influenced by various factors, including: an affordable housing shortage, rising welfare costs and welfare and economic issues.
It’s great that you want to support us this Christmas! There are lots of opportunities to support us through fundraising or campaigning work. To find out more, scroll to the bottom of this page or click through to the Crisis this Christmas webpage.
Of course, you are welcome to volunteer in a new shift, location or a different role if we have space available.
If you are feeling poorly we urge you to not volunteer until you are feeling better.
Some of our roles require previous experience or qualifications and others do not.
Professional service volunteers, such as those completing health checks or haircuts will require the relevant qualifications and public liability insurance.
In some roles we may be looking for volunteers with experience of supporting people who are homeless or other vulnerable adult groups. Information about each role will be listed on our website and throughout your volunteer application form. Please check this information before applying to ensure you are applying for the most suitable role for you.
The voice and expertise of people with lived experience is vital in ensuring our service is truly meeting the needs of our members. We encourage anyone with lived experience to apply for our volunteer roles.
We also involve members and people with lived experience of homelessness in opportunities across the organisation including our Experts by Experience panel. For more details, please speak to your local Volunteer and Involvement Lead.
We do not ask for references for Christmas volunteers.
At Christmas, due to the volume of volunteers recruited, we are unable to provide detailed references. We will only provide a start and finish date for those who have completed a volunteering shift in the previous two years. The only exception to this is for the lead/senior volunteers who work closely with Crisis and members of staff beyond the Christmas service delivery period.
At Christmas, due to the volume of volunteers recruited we are unable to cover expenses.
Many of the roles in our services will require a disclosure check, (either basic or enhanced) - you will be able to see this on the role description. If the role does, we use a digital system to manage this and we will request and pay for it (where payment is needed).
If you have a criminal conviction, this does not automatically mean you cannot volunteer for us. However, we may need to ask you more about the conviction to be able to do a risk assessment and decide if you can or cannot volunteer.
Once we receive your application, we will contact you to let you know if your application has been accepted and to give you information on the next steps. We get a high number of volunteer applications for Christmas and try our best to accommodate all volunteering applications.
In some cases, we may have more applications than spaces so you may be offered an alternative role or to be contacted if we have any cancellations.
Roles may differ in the specific training needed to volunteer but you will receive access to e-learning modules and a booking page for any in-person training sessions you will need to complete to volunteer. You will also receive a briefing on the day of your volunteering shift and be assigned a named supervisor for your shift if you have any questions.
To attend Merseyside Christmas as a guest, you can refer yourself or ask a professional to refer you by calling the centre on 0151 218 7000 or emailing merseyside@crisis.org.uk where you will be allocated one of our engagement and assessment workers to talk to you further about your needs.
Events are mainly in Liverpool City Centre or St Helens Town Centre.
We have volunteering opportunities that come up year-round and are advertised on our volunteering webpages.
If there are no roles advertised for your Skylight, this means we have no volunteering opportunities available in that service now. However, don't worry. You can still help to end homelessness by volunteering to raise funds and awareness. You can find opportunities to do this on our fundraising pages.
If you think someone is homeless, and you feel comfortable, please speak to them and offer them support in the first instance to contact the Housing Options Service at your local council. If they still need further support with homelessness please ask them to call our Skylight on 0151 218 7000.
