Logistics volunteers
Help with the logistics behind the scenes
Our Warehouse and Operations Centre are located in the Hub which is the nerve centre that provides operational support vital to the running of our centres as well as the transport of guests, resupplying, moving services around and ensuring effective communication between centres.
We are recruiting volunteers to help with these essential logistics services. The roles will be based either at The Hub, our warehouse and operations centre in South London. Although some of these roles will involve less direct interaction with guests, they are still vitally important roles – central to the successful delivery of Crisis at Christmas across London.
Our key logistics roles are:
- Transport volunteers
- Hub volunteers
- Operations Centre volunteers
- Techie volunteers
- Set up and close down volunteers
Transport volunteers
Transport is crucially important to the project and this year we are looking for drivers to help coordinate the movement of more than 80 vehicles. Tasks will include transporting guests between centres, delivering essential supplies to each centre and making sure that services, activities and entertainers get to where they need to be. Our volunteers drivers will work with a hub volunteer who acts as a navigator and will accompany them when transporting guests. The job of the navigator is less to map-read and more to engage with the guests.
Drivers need to be over the age of 25. We also welcome those with a license and experience of driving other vehicles such as minibuses, forklifts and 7.5 tonne trucks but these are by no means necessary to volunteer in Transport.
In order to drive one of our minibuses you will need to have a current MIDAS certificate and Crisis will be offering free MIDAS certificate training sessions for those volunteers interested in gaining this qualification prior to the event.
All Transport volunteers meet at the beginning of their shifts at the Crisis Warehouse, 46 Willow walk, Unit 7, Southwark, London SE1 5SF
Shift times are as follows:
- 12 December - 22 December 10 am - 5 pm.
- 23 December - 29 December 6 am - 2 pm, 2 pm - 11 pm and 11 pm - 6 am
- 30 December 6 am - 12 noon and 10 am - 5 pm
- 31 December and 2 - 4 January 10 am - 5 pm
Hub volunteers
Click 'play' below to hear Hub volunteer Leigh tell his story.
The Hub is the distribution centre for the whole operation. As a hub volunteer you will take on a variety of roles including navigatoring for drivers as well as picking, packing, loading and logging the supplies that are needed to keep the centres running - from food to stationary, cleaning supplies to toiletries and everything in between. The hub team will also be involved in sorting clothing and putting together clothing packs for our guests. A reasonable level of fitness is advisable for hub volunteers moving supplies around although no specific experience is necessary.
Shifts are as follows:
- 22 December, 3.15 pm to 11 pm and 10.15 pm to 8.30 am
- 23 December to 29 December, 7.45 am to 4 pm, 3.15 pm to 11 pm and 10.15 pm to 8.30 am
- 30 December, 7.45 am to 4 pm
Operations Centre volunteers
Our Operations Centre is the heart of communications during Crisis at Christmas. We need key people to help us get the right information to the right people at the right time, identifying and helping solve issues that come up around the centres. Tasks might include finding information, problem solving, taking orders for resources from the warehouse and gathering information. The Operations Centre will also be inputting data from around the centres so that we can keep abreast of the needs of our guests and respond appropriately. This can be a high-pressure environment and you’ll need to be able to remain calm under pressure and think on your feet.
- The shifts for Operations are 7.15 am to 3.30 pm, 2.45 pm to 10.30 pm and 9.45 pm to 8 am.
Techie volunteers
We need trained and qualified carpenters, electricians, plumbers and other specific skills for the set up and close down of each of the centres and to help with any potential maintenance issues over the week itself.
We currently have a range of shifts available for set up and close down either side of Christmas. Set up shifts have the potential to change dependant on when we have access to the buildings we use as our centres but if this happens we will get in touch and let you know. Over the week at Crisis at Christmas we need a number of people on call to help us, if you might be available to help with this please let us know on the application form.
Set up and Close down volunteers
We need extra volunteers to help in the run up to Crisis at Christmas and after it has finished, both at the Hub and with setting up the centres. This will generally involve manual work helping to load and unload various materials and supplies and setting up the centres themselves.
This is a job that depends to a great extent on when we are first given access to our buildings in order to set them up for Christmas. Over October and November we will post up on the Crisis Christmas Volunteer community pages when set up days have been confirmed for each of the centres and you can let us know if you are available to help out.
What commitment do I need to make?
As with other types of Crisis at Christmas volunteering, we need you to commit to a minimum of two shifts, so this means volunteering on two days. Reliability is a key issue and we need you to turn up on time for your allocated shifts.
If you are interested in helping out for most or all of the Christmas week and would be interested in these roles, we would particularly like to hear from you, but any help would be appreciated.
Please select Hub or Transport on the on-line application.
