All about Annie

We recently caught up with our Manager Annie to find out all about her and why she became involved with our charity. This is what she had to say…

How and why did you became involved in Communicare?

I’d been peripherally aware of Communicare since around 2000 when it graduated from being the social outreach of one church (Shirley Baptist) to being under the umbrella of Churches Together in Shirley and District. It was developing and the demands became too big for one small church.

I worship at St Mark’s Church on Archers Road, one of the 14 Churches that formed the membership of Churches Together.

My active involvement began when I took up a paid role in 2008, which included spreading the organisation city wide.

After two years working as a paid member of staff, I moved to a full-time post as the Programme Manager for the Olympic Diving Programme at the Quays.

I then served for five years and continued helping with Communicare as a volunteer and Trustee.

What’s your present role in Communicare?

In November 2015, I took on the role of Manager at Communicare in a part-time, temporary capacity. When the permanent post was advertised the following spring, I was successful in my application to continue with my role.

What work does Communicare do in the community?

We are a Good Neighbours’ Network, providing practical help and emotional support to anyone in need of a bit of TLC in the city of Southampton.

We have 315 ‘Communiteers’, which is what we like to call our volunteers, active in the community helping with a whole range of different tasks at the good neighbourly level.

How can members of the public get involved?

By getting hold of us and letting us know the sorts of things they might be keen to help us with.

There are a whole range of things people can do including:

• Fundraising 
• Providing transport
• Shopping for/with people
• Taking people on trips out
• Accompanying people on local walks or bus journeys – these are our Travel & Activity Buddies
• Helping people to access activities
• Home visiting
• Telephone befriending/support
• Helping with events, e.g. tea parties, lunch clubs
• Admin
• Buying products from our commercial venture CommuniBakes.

How can people get in touch with the team?

We are happy to hear from you by phone, 02382 50 00 50 or by email: enquiry@communicareinsouthampton.org.uk

How do you see the organisation developing in the near future?

At the moment, we’re helping 721 people and we expect this number will continue to grow.

We are especially focussed on helping service users to get out and about and be more active.

We are in particular need of drivers to get people to and from appointments or social events.

We also need lots more folk who would be prepared to pop in on those who can’t get out so easily and would benefit from someone calling in regularly for a chat. We also need volunteers to make regularly telephone calls to individuals.

We currently have a waiting list of around 313, who are asking for their first bit of help or who would like some additional support of some kind.

I would love to think that we could be successful in growing our team to do more of what we are so good at: making an existence into a life worth living and bringing joy to those around us.

How can people find out more?

Have a look at our volunteer section on our website and book in for friendly and informal chat with one of our team. We’d love to hear from you!