Volunteering

 

What are Lunch Clubs?

Lunch Clubs are run by volunteers who give their time so that people can come together to enjoy tasty food and good company.

If you enjoy cooking for a crowd, you can support your local community by volunteering your time and culinary skills by becoming a lunch club volunteer. And if cooking isn’t your thing, you can always help to prepare and serve the food.

Volunteer now

 

How Lunch Clubs can make a difference 

Food and socialising have always gone hand in hand. But for people who live alone, without relatives or a support network nearby, mealtimes can be a lonely time of day.

It’s a sad fact that older people living alone are particularly at risk of loneliness, isolation and malnutrition. Lunch Clubs offer people a chance to socialise with others and meet new friends. For many, these clubs are the only opportunity they have all week to eat a meal in company.

You can volunteer to help at a lunch club by preparing food, serving meals and giving a friendly welcome to diners. Or you can volunteer at one of our social dining activities. You can even organise your own Lunch Club or social dining activity.

Each year in communities across Britain, Royal Voluntary Service volunteers run nearly 80 Lunch Clubs, serving up over 50,000 delicious meals with a healthy side order of companionship

Find out more about what you can expect

 

Helping your talent shine

Whether you’re helping out at an existing Lunch Club, volunteering for the first time or wanting to set up your own club, we’ll give you all the help and support you need so that your skills can make a difference.

As a new volunteer you’ll receive a full induction which will ensure that you know exactly what to expect. We’ll also share some of the things that we’ve learnt along the way and provide you with a toolkit to guide you through the process.

You’ll have access to one-to-one guidance whenever you need it as well as help with insurance, marketing and finding volunteers for your own Lunch Club.

Our volunteers choose to join us for many different reasons, whatever yours is we want you gain as much from your voluntary role as the people you come into contact with.

But ultimately we hope you’re able to share your talents and skills in a way that works for you.

 

 

Find an opportunity near you
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"I ended up running the lunch club because I could see how amazing it was."
Tricia, Lunch Club volunteer, Rickmansworth
Tricia first became involved in the lunch club when helping out a friend who was a volunteer at the service. She now runs the club providing daily fresh cooked meals to older locals.
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