All over Leeds busy people are giving up small amounts of their precious time to help others. It’s called micro-volunteering – and it’s catching on. Laura Bowyer reports.
IT’s not every day you can don your pyjamas and still claim to be a superhero.
But dedicated micro-volunteers from across Yorkshire are playing their part to help transform the lives of others – all from the comfort of their own homes.
An unsung hidden army of volunteers are out there sending simple tweets to promote charities, writing letters to sick children and mapping edible plants across the country.
Micro-volunteering is now taking the nation by storm because it allows people to participate in just a matter of seconds.
But these small tasks are helping to make a big difference to charities across the region.
Here in Leeds there are dozens of micro-volunteers giving up a small amount of their time to help their local communities.
A dedicated team of bakers spend their spare time whipping up free cakes for under-privileged children in the city as part of the Free Cakes for Kids network.
There are also several collection points in Yorkshire where people can drop off their unwanted stationery and sports equipment to be sent to a network of schools in Africa that struggle to provide the basics for their pupils.
A team of West Yorkshire micro-volunteers also run a special website called hollaback! which aims to end street harassment.
It gives people a platform to air their stories about their experiences in different towns and cities across the county to build up a clearer picture of street harassment.
Incidents people have blogged about include everything from harassment on trains in Leeds to abuse from drunk men on the city’s streets.
The group aims to help empower people who have been harrassed in the street and raise awareness at the same time.
Mike Bright, founder of micro-volunteering website Help From Home, said that more and more people are choosing to volunteer from the comfort of their own home.
He said that more than 150,000 people are logging onto the website which offers advice and shows people a variety of different ways in which they can become micro-volunteers.
Mr Bright said: “Micro-volunteering is a change of mind-set at the end of the day.
“It is about doing some volunteer actions in small bite-size pieces.
“It can range from ten seconds to 30 minutes worth of your time and can be done from almost anywhere.
“It can take place in your home, in the office or even on the number 69 bus.
“It’s quite a departure from volunteering because you find that with micro-volunteering the actions come to you.”
The architectural technician, who helps to design skyscrapers around Britain, decided to establish the website in 2008 after spending 30 years volunteering for different good causes.
Mr Bright decided that he wanted to see what opportunities there were for people to volunteer from their own home and wanted to offer them a signpost to show them how to get involved.
“The reason why it’s getting quite popular is it just fits in with your lifestyle,” he said.
“You don’t need to have any experience or training.
“There are various actions you can take part in and the range is extremely diverse.
“You could be discovering galaxies on behalf of Nasa, transpiring papyrus on behalf of a museum or writing letters to sick children.
“There is a huge variety out there.”
More than 60 high street Volunteer Centres are promoting the scheme and Help from Home has been included in the Government’s Giving Green Paper as part of their Big Society vision.
Micro-volunteering is also growing in popularity across the globe and there are reports that people in Canada and Australia are signing up to help others.
Some of the opportunities on the website range from writing to prisoners in America and participating in short online surveys to examine what facial expressions mean or giving your opinions about different hair colours.
There are also opportunities for people to map wild fruit trees in their community, transcribe bird migration cards or sign political petitions.
The list of ideas is long.
Mr Bright said:“It is down to the fact that you can fit it in your busy schedule and don’t need to have specific training to take part in it.
“If you wanted to be a hero to people out there in the world you don’t really need to put your pants on outside your trousers.
“You can just put on your pyjamas, decide how to help someone else – and then you are a superhero in your own living room.”
To find out more about micro-volunteering visit: www.HelpFromHome.org
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