Warehouse Volunteer

Location

• 1 day (7 hours) as a one off

8 positions available

Wheelchair accessible

As a Volunteer Warehouse Assistant for the day, we have a range of tasks available, including:

• Assisting with loading food onto FareShare Vans

• Working in our warehouse to help staff and volunteers sort through food deliveries, separating chilled and ambient food

• Picking food orders for charities for delivery the following day

• Packing a range of items, from fresh meat and dairy, to cereal, bread and instant coffee

A summary of what your day may look like:

08.00 prompt: Arrival, tour of the FareShare warehouse and health and safety briefing

08.30: Tasks for the day are allocated and you can begin supporting in our warehouse!

10.30: Break

11.15: Back to work in the warehouse

12.00: Lunch

13.00: Anyone allocated to go out on a van will leave by 1pm, otherwise its back to the warehouse for more picking and packing!

15.00-45: Volunteering finishes (please note time may vary if you are on a van, due to traffic)

We welcome anyone who believes that good to eat food should be in people's stomachs as opposed to landfill. The ideal volunteer will be able to physically lift and shift crates of up to 10kg and be able to work alongside the rest of our volunteers in the warehouse.

We are supplying food to those who are facing food insecurity in our local community and any support that we can get goes such a long way to ensuring that we feed those in need. The more volunteers we can get, the more food we can move and therefore the more people we are able to help.

We ask that you consider a suggested donation of £50 per volunteer who attends, which goes directly back into the warehouse to support the work we do in getting food out to those who need it most and allows us to go further and support more charities in our area. 

Alternatively, an optional donation of long-life food and household items may be of preference. Items we are in desperate need of are as follows:

Cooking sauces

Tea bags and instant coffee

Rice, pasta & noodles

Toiletries (including shower gel, soap, deodorant)

Squash & cartons of juice

Tinned Fish

We will have steel-toe capped boots, gloves and hi-vis for you on site, otherwise please wear durable clothes you don’t mind getting a bit dusty! The warehouse reflects the outside temperature so wear appropriate layers. If we are due rain, please bring a waterproof jacket in case you are out on a van.

Directions

FareShare Southern Central is based on the Calmore Industrial Park in Totton. To arrive by car, exit the M27 at junction 2 and then take the first exit at the roundabout towards the A326. Take the second left, exiting towards Totton and the A36. Turn left at the junction, following the signs for Calmore Ind. Estate. Follow the road until you come to the roundabout, where you take the first exit to enter the industrial estate. Keep following the road.

The postcode takes you about 600m short, so keep going to the end of the road and we are in the first car park you come to at the final right turn. If you see the yard where our vans are, you've gone past us.  Immediately on your left is the FareShare warehouse. Car parking is very limited on site but cars can be parked on any of the roads around the estate.

By bus, take the stops at either Testwood Crescent or Stanley Road via 1 City Red or 12 Bluestar routes for around a 10 minute walk to the warehouse. By train Totton station is around a half hour walk away from the warehouse, so would advise using the bus routes mentioned above, if possible.

Essential Information 

Your day with us will often require physical working in the warehouse and potentially the opportunity to go out on the vans; if you have any special requirements, or support needs, please do let us know ahead of time so we can ensure you are comfortable with the work you are getting involved with.

Health and safety

Our team will go through a health and safety briefing with you on arrival, covering food safety as well as manual handling. Throughout the day, staff will be on hand to assist with any queries or concerns.

Refreshments

Whilst we have plenty of tea and coffee to keep the team energised, please do bring a lunch with you! We are quite far from local shops so please come prepared.  

We try to be as inclusive as possible but the role is very physical and requires a lot of manual handling. It may therefore not be suitable for everyone to participate and we would advise making contact with us to discuss individual needs.