Case study - The Wayside Day Centre

iT4Communities volunteers have already helped a number of homelessness charities. One success story is the Wayside Day Centre in Glasgow:

Frances, the Skills Development Worker at the Wayside Day Centre contacted Linda, the EverybodyOnline Project Co-ordinator, to explain that the local college was unable to sustain the support hours for IT sessions they had previously offered. This would have a negative effect for service users.

Linda had previously used iT4C to recruit volunteers and registered the Wayside Day Centre project on their database. Within a week two people had indicated an interest in volunteering at the Wayside, both of whom had considerable computer experience. Linda acted as the go-between for the potential volunteers and the Volunteer Co-ordinator at the Wayside.

One of the volunteers, Graeme, said: "I recognise the benefit of digital technology and I wanted to make use of what I've learned. A lot of people who come in here, need support in using computers, and I'm interested in helping them." Graeme supports service users to search for local information, investigate family history and develop creative writing skills.

Frances is delighted that she has two specifically recruited IT volunteers as this means that more individualised support can be offered by people who have in-depth knowledge and experience. She said, "Our service would be the poorer without them".

Key achievements:

• Recruited two volunteers.
• Increased IT support for service users.
• Volunteers are able to share their skills and expertise with the staff.