Furloughed workers encouraged to lend a hand to Preston charity

The Derian House Children’s Hospice, based in Chorley, is just one of the charities in desperate need of volunteers to help run its shops in Leyland, Chorley and Horwich.

The coronavirus pandemic has meant volunteer numbers are down after many of the charity's older helpers were forced to shield or isolate.

The charity, which offers respite and end-of-life care to over 400 children and young adults with life-limiting conditions from across the borough, is hoping those who have skills in the service industry can come to its rescue.

Andrew Upton-Ford, Retail Manager at Derian House said: “We know there are loads of really skilled people out there who have great experience in the service industry but have been furloughed or made redundant.

“We’d love for them to help us out by offering to volunteer at our shops while we’re finding it hard to cover the hours with the staff and volunteers we have.

“Volunteers are our lifeblood and we simply couldn’t operate our network of shops without them. We’re really flexible with our days and times and they don’t need to have specific retail experience – anyone who has worked in a bar or restaurant would be ideal too.”

The charity is looking to recruit around 30 volunteers for its shops in Leyland, Horwich and Chorley to assist with serving customers, displaying goods and cleaning.

The need for more volunteers comes after charity shops across Lancashire saw a huge increase in donations, some of which were unsaleable goods, after lockdown restrictions began to be lifted.

And research showed that 55 per cent of people have gathered bags of books, clothes and other items in lockdown to be donated to local charity stores.

Volunteers are encouraged to help with the management of donations at the charity’s warehouse in Adlington.

Emma Loughlin volunteers at Derian House Children’s Hospice Leyland charity shop for two days a week and says volunteering is a two-way street.

She said: “I enjoy volunteering at the shop so much. It gets me out and about meeting new people and I look forward to it every week. Everyone at Derian House is so friendly and I like how it’s a two-way thing – I’m helping raise money for the children and this is helping me as well.”

Derian House Children’s Hospice needs £4.8 million to run its services this year. It receives less than 7 per cent of this from government and NHS funding and relies heavily on the support of its community.

To find out more about the charity or volunteering visit derianhouse.co.uk