Somerset Sight is a local charity that has been supporting sight impaired people across Somerset for over a hundred years and in 2019 we proudly won the Queens Award for Voluntary Service.
One of the services we offer is the Volunteer Visiting Service, whereby volunteers are matched locally with a sight impaired person for regular visits for company and support and to alleviate their loneliness and isolation.
Volunteer visitors help with a variety of tasks such as reading, correspondence, or making appointments, going out for a drive or just a cup of tea and a chat. Many volunteers get great satisfaction and enjoyment from their voluntary work, many friendships are formed and the people they support very much look forward to their visits, some telling us that it is the highlight of their week. Full training is provided and we cover all reasonable expenses.
We have a number of visually impaired people in Somerset who would welcome a volunteer visitor, but they are on a waiting list as we don’t have enough volunteers to match them with. Therefore, we just wondered if you might be able to assist us in promoting this service to help us recruit some more volunteers.
Furthermore, we hold monthly Social Groups for the visually impaired in various towns across Somerset. Our service users come along to have a chat and a coffee, and we are also able to share ideas and information about living with sight loss.
We also have a Mobile Advisory Service which travels across the whole of Somerset offering information, advice and visual aids for people with sight loss. We have lots of helpful gadgets and interesting resources on board. The dates are on the website.
We arrange regular outings and events for people who are visually impaired, including an annual trip to the seaside. We deliver regular ‘Seeing Life Differently Days’ for people who are coming to terms with sight loss. We also provide Low Vision Clinics and we offer Emotional Support sessions via telephone. We have seen a big increase in the use of IT by our service users, so we now offer IT support to our visually impaired service users.
Further information about us can be found on our Facebook page and on our website:
Volunteer Visitors Needed
Somerset Sight is recruiting volunteers to befriend visually impaired people on a regular basis:
Would you like to help someone in your local area?
Join our team of volunteers, who help people to remain independent and overcome loneliness and isolation.
All reasonable and out of pocket expenses are paid.
For more information please contact Somerset Sight on:
01823 333818 or email [email protected]
