“I started volunteering weekly at Emmaus Bristol just before Christmas in 2021 through my friend Julian, who works at the charity. I see Julian regularly because we play music together and he asked if I wanted to help sort out the donated records. It’s the sort of thing I do at home with my own records anyway, so I thought why not? It will be fun, and I can help out a charity at the same time.
“To anyone thinking about volunteering at Emmaus Bristol, I’d say give it a go! You’ll be amazed at what you get out of it.”
For the first couple of weeks, I worked through a big backlog of records. I ditched loads of them because it was stuff that no one was going to buy. Emmaus got the vinyl value for them at a place in Bristol where you can take records to be recycled, and all the ones worth selling go on eBay or in the shops for £1.
Helping with the records is a nice mixture of using my knowledge of music and learning new things. I’ve never done eBay before, so I’ve learnt how to research records before pricing, how to take good photos, and list the vinyl on eBay. Now I know how to manage an eBay site, I’ve been thinking that I could set one up and sell my own records too. I’ve also learnt how to star in silly videos to help promote Emmaus Bristol!
All the people at Emmaus Bristol are lovely. There’s generally a really nice atmosphere and as far as I know, people are genuinely happy here. My partner volunteers with me at Emmaus too and really enjoys it. Homelessness is becoming more and more of an issue. If people were wondering how to help, volunteering, donating, being aware of all the great work Emmaus does in Bristol, and helping to spread the word are all good bets.
To anyone thinking about volunteering at Emmaus Bristol, I’d say give it go! You’ll be amazed at what you get out of it. The whole point of volunteering is to do something good and do it for free, but regardless of that, it will also be fun and you’ll enjoy It while you’re there anyway. I’m lucky because I’m doing something I’m interested in, but there’s not much at Emmaus Bristol I wouldn’t enjoy doing.”
If you would like to volunteer at Emmaus Bristol after reading Steve’s story, check out our volunteering page for available roles.
