This winter, your time can give someone the urgently needed safety, support and belief to build a life beyond homelessness. With your help, we can support people to go from crisis to home.
Volunteering opportunities at CrisisOur centre in Swansea offers year-round information, advice, and guidance, alongside a full programme of learning and group activities. Outreach services extend this support into Neath and Port Talbot, ensuring we’re there for members — at Christmas and beyond.
Join our friendly and supportive volunteer community that’s passionate about ending homelessness. With many volunteer’s returning year after year, the connections you make this Christmas can be long-lasting and the relationships you build with people experiencing homelessness can be lifechanging.
You’ll gain skills, have inspiring experiences, build confidence, and above all, help someone as they build a life out of homelessness and go from crisis to home. Not only this, but you will also be part of a once in a generation moment being led by the Prime Minister – to end rough sleeping and achieve real, lasting change.
Throughout December and into January, we deliver a programme of festive activities, practical support and community events for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness in Swansea. Volunteers are at the heart of this work, helping create a welcoming, supportive and joyful festive season for our members.
Our Christmas programme provides opportunities for members to connect, celebrate and build community. Volunteers support activities such as bowling, a Christmas card workshop, a Carol Service, a cinema trip, a community evening meal and our Christmas Party. These events help reduce isolation and create positive experiences during what can be a challenging time of year.
One of our largest volunteer-led activities is the Christmas Hamper Appeal. Volunteers help pack and deliver hampers filled with food, toiletries and gifts to members across Swansea, ensuring people feel remembered and supported over the festive period.
Volunteers also help deliver our Health and Wellbeing Day, creating a welcoming environment where members can access advice, support and wellbeing services.
We continue our festive support into the New Year with a Breakfast Morning on January 1st. Whether you're packing hampers, supporting events or welcoming members, volunteering with Crisis at Christmas is a rewarding way to make a real difference.
Once we receive your application, we will contact you to let you know if your application has been accepted and provide information on the next steps. We get a high number of volunteer applications for Christmas and try our best to accommodate all volunteering applications.
In some cases, we may have more applications than spaces so you may be offered an alternative role or to be contacted if we have any cancellations.
Roles may differ in the specific training needed to volunteer but you will receive access to e-learning modules and a booking page for any in-person training sessions you will need to complete to volunteer.
You will also receive a briefing on the day of your volunteering shift and be assigned a named supervisor for your shift if you have any questions.
To attend South Wales Christmas as a guest, you can refer yourself or ask a professional to refer you by calling the centre on 01792 674900 or emailing southwales@crisis.org.uk where you will be allocated one of our engagement and assessment workers to talk to you further about your needs.
To donate to South Wales Christmas offer, you can make a monetary donation of your choosing to Crisis, which will be allocated to services in South Wales. Alternatively there are many other ways you can donate as we need a wide range of items to help us run our Christmas.
You can get in touch on 01792 674900 / southwales@crisis.org.uk to ask which items are needed or visit our Amazon wishlist.
Unfortunately there are some items we are unable to accept so please do check before dropping items in.
Crisis Skylight South Wales offers a range of volunteering opportunities throughout the year. Volunteers support learning and skills activities, wellbeing programmes, events, administration and member engagement. Whether you can give a few hours a month or volunteer regularly, there are opportunities to suit different interests, skills and availability. Visit our volunteering page to find out more and register your interest.
If you are concerned about someone who is sleeping rough, you can help by contacting your local housing options team or StreetLink. If the person is in immediate danger or requires urgent medical attention, call 999. You can also signpost them to Crisis services and local homelessness support organisations that can provide advice, accommodation support and practical assistance.
Crisis Skylight South Wales does not currently run volunteering activities on Christmas Day itself. Following our members’ feedback, our Christmas opportunities take place throughout December and the New Year, supporting festive events, hamper packing and deliveries, health and wellbeing activities, and community gatherings. If you would like to support our Christmas programme, we'd love to hear from you and help you find a suitable volunteering opportunity.
The voice and expertise of people with lived experience is vital in ensuring our service is truly meeting the needs of our members. We encourage anyone with lived experience to apply for our volunteer roles.
We also involve members and people with lived experience of homelessness in opportunities across the organisation including our Experts by Experience panel. For more details, please speak to your local Volunteer and Involvement Lead.
Some of our roles require previous experience or qualifications and others do not.
Professional service volunteers, such as those completing health checks or haircuts will require the relevant qualifications and public liability insurance.
In some roles we may be looking for volunteers with experience of supporting people who are homeless or other vulnerable adult groups. Information about each role will be listed on our website and throughout your volunteer application form. Please check this information before applying to ensure you are applying for the most suitable role for you.
We do not ask for references for Christmas volunteers.
At Christmas, due to the volume of volunteers recruited, we are unable to provide detailed references. We will only provide a start and finish date for those who have completed a volunteering shift in the previous two years. The only exception to this is for the lead/senior volunteers who work closely with Crisis and members of staff beyond the Christmas service delivery period.
At Christmas, due to the volume of volunteers recruited we are unable to cover expenses.
Many of the roles in our services will require a disclosure check, (either basic or enhanced) - you will be able to see this on the role description. If the role does, we use a digital system to manage this and we will request and pay for it (where payment is needed).
If you have a criminal conviction, this does not automatically mean you cannot volunteer for us. However, we may need to ask you more about the conviction to be able to do a risk assessment and decide if you can or cannot volunteer.
Of course, you are welcome to volunteer in a new shift, location or a different role if we have space available.
It’s great that you want to support us this Christmas! There are lots of opportunities to support us through fundraising or campaigning work. To find out more, click on our Other ways to support buttons below or visit the Crisis at Christmas webpage.
If you are feeling poorly we urge you to not volunteer until you are feeling better.
As we prioritise the health of everyone, volunteers who display any symptoms will be asked to leave their shift.
Unfortunately, due to the limitations placed on us by our insurance, we are unable to offer volunteering opportunities to those not based in the UK.
There’s more than one way to make a difference this Christmas. If you can’t volunteer with us, your donation, event participation, or fundraising support can help change lives and end homelessness for good.
