Spotlight on our volunteers - Meet Linda

Our volunteers are an essential part of our work and we are very grateful to them. We want to shine a spotlight on their amazing work. Meet Linda, Hemsworth's longest servicing volunteer.
 
This year, our charity shop in Hemsworth has been opened for 24 years. One of the shop volunteers has worked there since it opened. Her name is Linda.
 
Carole, the Shop Manager, who has also worked in the shop since the beginning, remembers well:
 
“When Linda started, she was a very shy, timid, 25 year old girl. She had mild learning difficulties. She didn't really talk much. Her first jobs were cleaning, washing up and making tea.  I saw a potential in Linda and I started training her in the daily tasks that needed to be done. Ticketing and toddling was the first jobs. Then I showed her how to display books, bric-a-brac, handbags, shoes and other items. After a few years, I decided to show her how to steam.  She learnt it quite quickly and did a very good job at it. She went home on that day and proudly told her mum. Then Joyce, her mum showed her how to iron.”
 
Linda's confidence has grown over the years so much that now she gets about by herself. She is able to travel on a bus to the White Rose Shopping Centre or anywhere. She has a great social life. She does ‘Keep-fit-Zumba’ and line dancing. And this is all from a very timid, shy girl who has bloomed into a confident woman.
 
We thank to Linda for her long-term volunteering. The Hemsworth shop would be not the same without her.