Why You Should Volunteer With Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity
Omar Malik
18/03/24
(Image Credit: Steven Mair)
Proactive fundraising and ensuring that children have the highest quality, most enjoyable experiences during their hospital stays are fundamental to the ethos of Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity.
Based within Govan’s Royal Hospital for Children, Scotland’s largest children’s hospital, the charity is an organisation which offers various means of support for children who both require and deserve it.
Blether Magazine spoke to Steven Mair, the marketing and communications officer of Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, to learn more about how the incredible organisation has supported the wellbeing of children during their time in hospital.
Since opening nine years ago, the children’s hospital has helped so many young Scots, says Mair: “It touches so many thousands of lives, and over 500 children are treated at the Royal Hospital for Children each day as inpatients and outpatients. One-third of those roughly are from outside Greater Glasgow as well. So it’s a national sort of hospital and a national charity.”
(Image Credit: Steven Mair)
The charity’s vast reach benefits hospitals throughout the Glasgow area, Mair says: “We’ve invested over £41 million into the various children’s hospitals and other facilities we support like Princess Royal Maternity Hospital, Inverclyde Royal Hospital and Royal Alexandra Hospital - and we support all the maternity and neonatal units in those sites.”
If you’re wondering what the funding actually delivers for young patients, Mair explains: “It can be as simple as play and arts & crafts, all the way up to groundbreaking, innovative medical equipment that then ends up being used across the world - such as the vCreate video platform, which helps families stay connected to their newborn babies who are in neonatal intensive care.”
Before joining the charity, Mair was a successful sports journalist who was writing for the Daily Record - so what got him interested in pursuing such a different career path?
“Increasingly I felt sort of disillusioned with the whole journalism thing - it just felt very difficult day-to-day. And I felt like there was something bigger out there for me. I joined the team and I’ve now been at the charity for nearly two years. It’s an absolutely fantastic organisation,” Mair told Blether.
Here at Blether, we’re all about giving positive organisations a voice, while also providing our Gen Z audience with a range of career prospects.
So we asked Mair what young Scots would gain from volunteering with Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity.
(Image Credit: Steven Mair)
“You’re showing dedication and developing skills that you otherwise wouldn’t have. It’s not unheard of at all in the charity sector for people to go from volunteer to employee at the same charity. Plus you’ll be working with kids - which if you’re looking to get into teaching, or a children-oriented career generally, you’re ticking that box,” Mair explains.
It doesn’t even have to feel like a typical charity role either, Mair tells us: “We have lots of active events coming up, like our own sponsored walk with the Great Scottish Run coming later this year. Last summer we were at the rugby match for Scotland versus England - that was great fun and we’ve even got loads of upcoming concerts and sporting events all across Glasgow.”
Mair also points to the charity’s gaming volunteer service as an experience that specifically appeals to 18-30 year olds: “It’s part of a campaign called Games for the Weans that calls on Scotland’s gaming communities to raise funds to help provide a gaming service in the hospital. Gaming is what kids love to do, and if they can still do that while in hospital then that’ll have a good effect mentally and potentially with their clinical journey.”
(Image Credit: Steven Mair)
There’s even the potential for career prospects within the gaming industry following young people volunteering with the service: “The gaming service and the gaming volunteer pilot is a one-of-a-kind in the UK, as far as we know. And the provision of gaming personnel and volunteers also has prospects of a potentially paid role sometime in the future.”
Here at Blether, we believe Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity is an incredible organisation whose mission is to improve children’s lives in some capacity while they’re in hospital.
If you’re interested in hearing about the services they provide for patients and volunteers, check out the official website.