The programme has been running since 1967. Operating on Christmas Day and on the days either side, Crisis hubs allow people to come in and benefit from conversation and companionship as well as food. Guests are also introduced to longer-term services in an attempt to get them off the streets for good.
Your local night shelters and churches
Being proactive can help, as some opportunities might not be widely advertised. Get in touch with your local night shelter or church to see if they need volunteers on Christmas Day.
For example, many churches host Christmas lunches for people experiencing homelessness, and vulnerable or elderly people.
Who knows, it might even turn into longer-term volunteering for you.
The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army has a range of opportunities available, including Christmas present packing and delivery. However, what is on offer will vary on a local level – and so depends on each local church. You can also discover what’s on offer by visiting a shop and speaking to the staff or volunteers.
And aside from Christmas Day itself, the Salvation Army has a range of volunteering activities on offer throughout the festive period, with their charity shops particularly busy as the big day approaches.
“Other voluntary roles include cooks and caterers, befrienders and debt advisers,” a spokesperson told us.
“You can also volunteer at our food banks, lunch clubs, community cafés or playgroups, or volunteer to support The Salvation Army’s anti-trafficking and modern slavery work, for example as a chaperone, driver or mentor. To find out more email ATMSVolunteering@salvationarmy.org.uk.”
Age UK
Elderly people face a crisis of loneliness which is particularly acute at Christmas. For a quarter of elderly people – or around 2.7million people – it brings fears that the period will heighten their sense of loneliness. There’s good reason to help out, and plenty of opportunity to do so.
Local Age UK branches may be operating on Christmas Day, while Age UK’s Telephone Friendship Service also runs on Christmas Day – but volunteers need to commit to a year of volunteering and call once a week.
But more generally, as you’d expect, Age UK has a host of volunteering opportunities across the Christmas period, including volunteering in an Age UK shop or volunteering for The Silver Line Helpline, a free and confidential 24-hour helpline for over-55s who feel lonely and isolated. This service is also open on Christmas Day.
Rotary Christmas Day
In London, the Wandsworth Rotary Club holds an annual Christmas Day event for the elderly in the area. They’re looking for bus escorts to take guests to and from the event.
Your local rotary club may also have similar opportunities if you contact them directly.
Volunteering for the Christmas Dinner project
Across the country, 34 Christmas dinners will be taking place for care leavers who have just aged out of the care system and would otherwise be spending Christmas alone.
Started by poet Lemn Sissay in 2013, and funded by the Gold from the Stone Foundation, the initiative needs volunteers to cook, give gifts or simply spend the day with care leavers.
Glass Door night shelters
Night shelters keep people off the streets, saving lives during the winter. The charity Glass Door, which runs shelters in London, says it could not keep the doors open without its volunteer teams.
Their volunteers help in the kitchen, serving those staying in the shelter a warm, healthy home-cooked meal. But they also support caseworkers and can even offer translation skills.
Fleetwood’s Christmas Day Dinner 2024
As an example of what communities can achieve, something special has take place in Fleetwood since 2022. This year will be the third year that volunteers have come together to provide a communal Christmas dinner for those in need.
Coordinated on a Facebook group which now numbers 2,400 members, it offers a three course meal to over 90 people – with the eldest guest 97 years old. Its organisers say it thrives on donations from the community, with volunteers driving guests to and from the dinner and even providing musical accompaniments.
Christmas Day at Jacksons Lane
From three years to half a century – another community Christmas dinner will reach its 50th anniversary this year. The lunch at Jacksons Lane, north London has been running since the 1970s.
It kept going through the pandemic, and offers community at a vital time. A team of 100 volunteers keep the show on the road, with many finding it has become a Christmas tradition. Along with helping cook meals, volunteers can wrap gifts and offer lifts. If you can’t make it, they offer the chance to buy gifts for the vulnerable older people helped by the dinner.
Why volunteer on Christmas Day?
There’s a simple reason to volunteer and help others at Christmas: the spirit of festive cheer. However, it’s also a particularly difficult time for many. Those struggling to heat their homes find bills rising, parents face higher costs over the holidays, and those on the streets are exposed to dangerously cold weather.
Take rough sleeping: it has increased by more than a quarter in a single year. The most recent count showed over 11,000 rough sleepers on London’s streets in the space of a year. Overall, homelessness has increased by 8% year-on-year, with over 13,000 households classed as homeless, and a record number living in temporary accommodation.
But volunteering needn’t just be for Christmas. If you’re looking to get involved year-round, Big Issue has opportunities for you. If you’re in need of help this Christmas, plenty of places also provide free Christmas dinners.
Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. This Christmas, you can make a lasting change on a vendor’s life. Buy a magazine from your local vendor in the street every week. If you can’t reach them, buy a Vendor Support Kit.
