Rachel’s Volunteer Story

Rachel McCarthy HEART Volunteer CoOrdinator

I started living in St Leonards in 2011 and totally fell in love with it. I run a large organisation of artists and artists’ models and also do life drawing hen parties. I’m a nutritionist too, specialising in food allergies and intolerances. Plus I am in the core group of Friends of Hastings Pier.

I first became involved with HEART when I joined the Facebook group, signed up as a volunteer and started getting the newsletter.

I wanted to volunteer because my business had fallen to pieces due to covid, so I wanted something to fill that gap a bit, to feel useful again, I suppose. Also to help out people in need, of course.

At HEART I am a Volunteer Coordinator which means I match volunteers to people in need and organise getting them together. So, if a job comes in, I call the client to find out more about what they need, then call around to find a volunteer who can do it.

I enjoy being a coordinator as I am a born organiser! Also, being part of a team is great. We all support each other and there is always someone to help out if we get stuck on something.

It is a very worthwhile and heartwarming thing to do. I have met new people as well.

I have met (via Zoom) the wonderful core group of HEART. Hopefully, once things ease a bit, we can meet in person. I’ve also had lots of lovely chats with our clients, who often need someone to talk to as much as anything else (don’t we all!).

What advice would you give to someone considering getting involved with volunteering for HEART?

Go for it!