Volunteer with your local Link Scheme or Community Minibus Group
Stay active, meet new people and help the most vulnerable in your local community
Are you looking for a new volunteering role which will help make a difference to vulnerable and isolated people in your community? Do you enjoy meeting new people, keeping active and helping others? Your local Link Scheme or Community Minibus Group needs you!
Community First is working alongside 42 Link (volunteer car) Schemes and 21 Community Minibus Groups in Wiltshire and Swindon as part of a campaign to find new volunteers. There are lots of ways to be involved including as a volunteer driver or co-ordinator who connects volunteers with people looking for transport.
What is a Link Scheme?
A Link Scheme are volunteer-led services which offer door-to-door transport for people who are unable to access public or private transport. This could be for medical appointments, trips to local shops or lunch clubs. Each Link Scheme typically covers a specific area e.g. a group of villages, the service relies upon donations and volunteers to offer the service for local people.
What is a Community Minibus Group?
A Community Minibus Group offers group transport for people who need help to get out and about. Community Minibus groups may offer regular group trips from a specific location e.g. a village to to shops or facilities (similar to a shuttle bus). Like Link Schemes, Community Minibus Groups rely on donations and volunteers to operate.
Link Scheme map of Wiltshire
How your support as Link Scheme or Community Minibus volunteer can make a difference:
There are over 1,500 volunteers in Wiltshire and Swindon who are involved in supporting Link Schemes locally, either as volunteer drivers, coordinators or committee members.
Last year volunteer drivers travelled over 750,000 miles, taking people to local hospitals, doctors appointments, shops and lunch clubs. Without the transport offered by Link Schemes and Community Minibus Groups, many of the people who use these services would find it hard to leave their home, leading to isolation and declining mental or physical health.
The service offered by volunteer transport groups can be truly life-changing, offering peace of mind, dignity and the opportunity to lead a normal, independent life. Volunteering with your local transport service is a fantastic way to make a real difference.
Get Involved
To find out more about volunteering, you can make contact with your local transport group directly or contact Community First so we can put you in touch with the volunteer coordinator for your local Link Scheme or Community Minibus Group.
Contact: linkproject@communityfirst.org.uk or call 01380 722241
Benefits of Volunteering:
Meet new people
Stay active
Mileage and expenses paid
Do something you enjoy
Flexible (no set time commitment)
Help people and make a difference
Credit: drawingrooms@icloud.com