Volunteering for QueerSpace can take on a number of forms, and each volunteer can find a task that suits their skills and personality. The main areas which our volunteers get involved in are as follows:
A summary what each off how volunteers can get involved with QueerSpace is shown below. There is also information about how you can get involved.
Collective
QueerSpace holds its Collective Meetings on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month. It is at these meetings that the volunteers decide what events to hold, who will manage the InSpace Drop-In and the overall direction of QueerSpace. Volunteers serve as the Moderator, who calls the meeting to order and ensures that it is finished on time, and the Recorder, who writes down the decisions made during the meeting. At each meeting, a different volunteer fills these roles in order to ensure that all voices have a chance to be heard.
InSpace
Running the InSpace Coffee Lounge on a Saturday is one of the first tasks volunteers take part in. Volunteers are responsible for ensuring that visitors are made welcome, with plenty of biscuits, coffee and tea, and for providing them with information about the LGBT scene in Belfast. The drop-in is always staffed by two volunteers, so no one has to work alone. This is a great opportunity for volunteers to meet new people.
Events
QueerSpace also organizes a monthly calendar of events which conceived by, planned and executed by volunteers. This is one of the main reasons QueerSpace values a diversity of volunteers—to provide it with new ideas for events. The nature of the events is limited only by the imagination of the volunteers. These events allow volunteers to develop their creative sides as well as their organizational and managerial skills.
Other Roles
There are many other roles for volunteers to play. For example, volunteers are responsible for:
- looking after the money raised by QueerSpace, to ensure that it is used properly
- responding to letters and e-mails sent to QueerSpace
- organising the monthly events calendar and ensuring email reminders are sent out to the QueerSpace mailing list
- fund raising
- keeping this website up to date
The list could go on. The more active QueerSpace is, the more tasks there are for volunteers to carry out.
How to get involved?
If you want to volunteer for QueerSpace, just come along to the Collective Meetings or InSpace Drop-In on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month at the Belfast LGBT Centre, Waring Street. Alternatively please fill in our Contact Us form and one of our volunteers will get back to you.