Volunteer
Crocus organisation:
Crocus cafe is run by a board of nine volunteers. It employs one chef and two counter staff to cover Crocus opening hours, and volunteers help in the kitchen and behind the counter in short shifts. The dedication of all these people makes our community cafe run smoothly!
Why volunteer?
Getting involved in your community gives huge personal pride and satisfaction while gaining you skills, friends and a new hobby. It won’t cost you anything and there’s such a lot you can gain from volunteering!
Volunteering opportunities:
1) Cafe shifts:
Each shift is just 2 hours. Travel expenses are reimbursed and after 5 shifts you are awarded a free main meal. Although we know you may not be able to make a specific commitment, we ask if volunteers could try to do one shift a week, preferably at a regular time.
After your initial training, you can expect to be involved in: counter service, table service, washing-up, food and drinks preparation, general cleaning and tidying, and maybe even some local delivery or shopping.
2) Join the board.
The board is made up of nine volunteers elected at the Annual General Meeting every April (look out for the date advertised in the cafe). Positions include Chair, Secretary, Events officer, Publicity officer, Campaigns and Community officer, Finance officer, Health and Safety, Day-to-Day officer and Volunteer coordinator. No experience is necessary to run for these roles and however much you already know there’s plenty more you can learn from volunteering. These roles require commitment of one year and about 3-5 hours per week (which includes one fortnightly meeting). Crocus Cafe can only provide the most appropriate services for the Lenton community if it is run by a diverse cross-section of our community – so if you live in Lenton we want to hear from you!
3) Start or get involved with a project.
Get involved in a current project (e.g. Thursday night project) or we will support you to start your own (e.g. Crocus newsletter, allotment project, art/crafts projects, film showings, healthy eating…).
4) Crocus expansion.
The neighbouring unit to Crocus would be perfect to expand into… Crocus is looking for volunteers to help with everything including grant applications, planning the cafe layout, DIY and plumbing, etc.
