Bringing the Charlie House experience to shoppers through dedicated volunteering!
Meet Ruth!
Ruth volunteers with Charlie House regularly at our fantastic marketplace Curated Aberdeen, greeting customers, selling our merchandise, and spreading the word about our vital cause. This brilliant mum of three dedicates her time to looking after her daughters and keeping up with their activities.
However, it’s not just their hobbies that keep her busy, Ruth is also a keen runner. She tells us, “I run every day, it’s my me time. My love of running includes taking part in parkrun, both running and volunteering – I’m part of the team of run directors at our local junior parkrun in Aberdeen. I also head the school’s running club!”
Our Christmas market within the Bon Accord Centre in 2020 was where Ruth first found her passion for volunteering with Charlie House, and she enjoyed it so much that she returned to her retail volunteer position in June 2021 when the market reopened as ‘Curated’.
Speaking of her volunteering experience with us, she says, “I decided to volunteer with Charlie House as I was looking to do something productive with my time now that my girls are all at school. I had heard of Charlie House but didn’t know much about them, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn more while volunteering.”
She goes on, “I really enjoy my role, I like meeting lots of different people. No two days are the same at Curated – and the customers that come in often like to have a wee chat with us, which is lovely.”
Our Curated volunteers truly showcase the various walks of life that Charlie House volunteers come from. From students, to parents, to retirees, to corporate partners getting involved. All you have to do is visit our marketplace, filled with a range of fantastic stallholders and head over to the Charlie House area before you leave. There you will be greeted by lots of friendly faces who are happy to chat and share more about our work.
As well as getting involved in the market, Ruth also offered her retail volunteering skills to Charlie House for an evening of shopping and fizz at Annie Mo’s in late 2021. This was an exclusive event held at the popular, Aberdeen-based furniture store that invited customers to shop, with 10% of the profits made from sales on the day going towards Charlie House. Speaking of her volunteer role on the night, Ruth says, “I loved the shopping evening at Annie Mo’s. It was fun to do something a bit different and I hope to get involved in more events in the future!”
Ruth is one of many amazing volunteers who help us get closer to achieving our goals, by spreading the word of our important work with families in the local community and dedicating her time to giving us a helping hand. Without volunteers like her, Charlie House simply couldn’t exist.
“I’m proud to be helping Charlie House, a local charity helping local families,” Ruth says.
“I’m very excited about the opening of the Charlie House specialist support centre. I can’t wait to see it built as it looks like it’s going to be an amazing facility which is badly needed by families in the north east.”
Charlie House’s £8million campaign to open a specialist support centre in Aberdeen began in 2018 and is currently at the £3.6million mark. The opening of this centre will bring the very best specialised therapeutic and medical care to the city, meaning that families with children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions will no longer have to travel over 100 miles from Aberdeen to receive the care that they need. Our volunteers at Curated, including Ruth, are more than happy to speak to you about it when you visit!
If you, like Ruth, want to dedicate your time to helping local families you can sign up to volunteer today by filling out our volunteering form.
