QUBA Volunteer Day Spotlight – Julia’s House Warehouse

Every QUBA employee can take a day to volunteer at a charity of their choice, with full pay. We spotlight a recent Volunteer Day with Alice Swain, our Senior Payroll Officer.

Where did you volunteer?

‘I volunteered for Julia’s House at their Creekmore warehouse.’

Julia’s House is a children’s hospice charity providing practical and emotional support to families with life-limited or life-threatening conditions in Dorset and Wiltshire. They offer care at home, in the community, and at their hospices. Their services include end-of-life care, bereavement support, and various therapies. The charity relies on donations, fundraising events, and volunteers to continue its work, which has received an ‘Outstanding’ rating from the CQC.

For more information, visit Julia’s House.

What did you do on your volunteer day?

‘I helped to sort and organise donations for Julia’s House shops. We spent the morning cleaning and rearranging a part of the warehouse to make room for more shelving to hold more donations, and then in the afternoon we helped with the bags of clothing donations – we would grab a bin liner full of clothes, have a look at each item of clothing and if up to standard, would attach a price label and place in the relevant area (men’s clothing was on the left, women’s was on the right, there would then be different sections for summer or winter clothing, coats, shoes, accessories etc).’

Julia’s House operates charity shops with boutique-inspired interiors and specialised sections, such as a Bridal Room at their Creekmoor store. The shops offer a range of items and support the charity’s work by selling donated goods. They also provide services like furniture delivery and collection. Donations can be made at the shops, and they also have an online shop and an eBay store.

For more information, visit Julia’s House Shops.

How did you feel about your experience? 

‘It was an eye opening experience being able to see how much work and effort goes in behind the scenes – I was very naïve and thought they might get a few donations everyday, so couldn’t imagine there would be much for us to do. 

Despite all the volunteers helping behind the scenes, it was impossible to keep up with the donation deliveries happening throughout the day, and I think we were actually working through donations made several weeks prior, which made it obvious how important volunteering was, and you could visibly see the difference we were making whilst being there. I felt a sense of accomplishment by the end of the day, and could tell we had an instant positive impact within the warehouse.’

Julia’s House is one of QUBA Solutions’ nominated charities for 2024. Learn more about our charitable initiatives and fundraising on our CSR page. 

How do you feel about QUBA’s policy of a volunteer day per year? 

‘I think it’s great and an amazing opportunity to see the behind the scenes of the life changing work these charities are doing. Would definitely do it again!’

At QUBA Solutions, we are deeply committed to Corporate Social Responsibility. Every employee, whether full-time or part-time, is entitled to one fully paid volunteer day per year to contribute to the community.

Our partnerships with Julia’s House and Surfers Against Sewage offer popular volunteering opportunities, however, we also encourage our staff to support causes that resonate with them personally. For example, you can read all about a volunteer day with Luccombe hub on our recent volunteer spotlight. 

Facilitating this level of volunteering, along with our team fundraising efforts and outreach activities, is a vital aspect of QUBA’s ethos of giving back.