A few stories from just some of the amazing Dock Volunteers…

Jackie is one of our volunteers on Mondays and Fridays – you may recognise her or you may just know her as the blur of energy that whooshes past cleaning dishes, mopping the floor, and tidying the tables at 90mph!  On Sunday night at our monthly Sunday service (Sunday  Nights at The Dock, 1st Sunday of every month, 6pm @ Dock Cafe) she’ll be sharing her story of her amazing travels, adventures and opportunities… don’t miss it!

To find out more about Joanne, one of our Saturday volunteers, you just need to click through to the BBC – yes, a Dock volunteer has hit the headlines!   Just goes to show that you never know who is pouring your cuppa in The Dock – they might be an international globetrotter taking a quick break from their UNESCO duties to chill out in the cafe!

And Stevo – if you’ve been in at lunch time over the last few weeks, you won’t have missed Stevo.  He’s masterminding the further development of Dock Picnic, our lunchtime overflow extravaganza – and I’ll let him introduce himself in his own words:

Hi everyone I am the newest member of the team here at The Dock.(which is all very exciting!!) I am almost a full month into my role as a project worker for the new Pop Up Picnic. Time flies!

No day in The Dock is ever the same and as I have discovered post volunteering there is a lot of work that goes on behind scenes! I am involved primarily with the set up of our new and exciting project – the Pop Up Picnic in our Market space  (see the pics of work in progress!) I also help out with the volunteer recruitment process and chip in with the day to day life of the main cafe as well.

A usual day for me starts off around 9.30am setting up the Pop Up Picnic, looking after/developing it until around 2pm when it closes. I love it, it is very challenging but a great opportunity to be creative at the same time. It has been fantastic getting to know the students over the past month that use the space. My time outside of the Picnic is spent with the volunteer process, which is great because I am meeting new people all the time and hearing the fantastic stories of why people want to volunteer with The Dock.

A little bit about me:  I’m a pretty regular guy in his twenties. Sport is a big part of my life! I love kicking the odd sphere or chasing an egg across a pitch on the odd occasion. I love meeting new people and exploring new things. My journey to The Dock started many years ago when my parents decided to board me and my siblings on a plane to Southern Africa. I lived there for around 10 years (being Irish a lot of factor 30 was used). It was a great childhood and I learnt so much from experiencing a very different culture.

I moved back to Northern Ireland to complete my schooling in Ballymena, which was an experience in itself. After school I moved to lovely Belfast and studied Design Technology at Jordanstown. Post uni I moved towards full time work in the charity and voluntary sector due to my back ground in sport coaching and Church involvement. My last job was developing youth volunteering across Northern Ireland and working on some fantastic events. So it was all pretty exciting and now suddenly I find myself in The Dock cafe.

So how did this happen?  About a year and half ago I had been chatting with someone who told me about this quirky little place in the Titanic Quarter that would be right up my street.  I said ok, right I will check it out, thinking nothing much of it at first. So I went on the website and watched the videos of how the Dock came to be. I was blown away by the vision Chris had for Church and life in the area.  I felt a strong presence that I needed to get involved, but with starting a new full time job, that it may not happen. After a bit of tossing and turning, I decided just go! I don’t do much on a Saturday anyway. So I started volunteering and absolutely loved it! I couldn’t wait to get in on a Saturday after a long week in work.

Around March this year my work circumstances changed and I wasn’t sure what was next. I was still in The Dock volunteering and was asked if I would be interested in doing an Intern, I thought fantastic this is an answer to prayer! So over the past few months I have been ‘interning’ which involved a project or two. I was assigned to look after the volunteer recruitment process and help with the day to day operations of the cafe. I learnt a huge amount during the Intern and have met some incredible people!

Please feel free to come over and have a chat and I Look forward to pouring you a cuppa very soon 🙂