Ricky tells us about his role at an ExtraCare charity shop

Ricky Stone is a young volunteer from Derby, here he discusses how volunteering has helped with his Autism and how he feels about giving back to the community.

“My name is Ricky Stone, I am 22 years old, and I live in Derby. I volunteer in the ExtraCare charity shop in Sinfin, Derby. I started volunteering in January 2019 for a couple of hours a week.

At college we were informed of multiple volunteering opportunities, and I chose ExtraCare as it was easy to get to from my home. Volunteering is important as you do give back to the local community. You also feel like you are making a difference and helping a wonderful cause. It may be a cliché, but volunteering can help put a little good back into the world.

For most of my time volunteering I steam the clothes before they go out on the shop floor. Recently, the Sinfin store had a new manager and since then I have put stock out on the shop floor and for the past couple of weeks, I have received training to work on the till.

I would say that volunteering has improved my social skills, due to my Autism I tend not to socialise well but since volunteering my social skills have improved vastly.

I would recommend volunteering to others. Volunteering is important not only to give back to the community, but you also learn skills that transfer to all sorts of employment. Volunteering is also brilliant to have on your CV, showing potential employees that you are willing to go above and beyond. No matter the voluntary work conducted it is wonderful to do and it helps achieve goals faster!”

Find out more about how you can get involved and volunteer at one of our ExtraCare locations, email volunteering@extracare.org.uk!