VOLUNTEERS play a crucial role in helping charities to survive.

Unpaid workers enable charities to plough the cash they receive into delivering the essential support and services they provide.

Their work is invaluable which makes the volunteers role even more important. Yet many charities struggle to recruit volunteers as lives become busier and time becomes more precious.

Based in Shipley, The Cellar Trust, was established in the mid 1980s and supports people with medium to severe mental health problems on their journey to recovery.

The charity is currently recruiting for Volunteer Ambassadors to help with its community fundraising, along with retail and woodwork volunteers.

Ces Kulikowski, the charity's marketing manager, says volunteers are vital to organisations such as theirs - they just need more as it would enable them to sell the items they create and produce at events such as craft fairs throughtout Bradford and Shipley. This would not only boost the charity's funds but would also help them spread the word about what they do.

Volunteering, of course, brings benefits both ways. There is the feel-good factor for those who volunteer and they can also include it on their CV when seeking future employment.

"When you go to an organisation it's not just what you can offer but the experience they can give to you. It may be you are interested in admin but never worked in an admin role before. It is an opportunity for you to learn new skills and be given experience in something which could become a career for you," says Ces.

"Going out and doing something for somebody else makes you feel better. It is really important for your own mental well-being."

And people can do as much or as little as they want. "People think it needs to be a week in week out commitment, but if they do two or three weekends a year that would help us massively," says Ces.

Another organisation which relies on volunteers is Bradford Nightstop. The charity has been given a helping hand in its bid to recruit new volunteers by housebuilders, Persimmon Homes West Yorkshire who named the charity its 'Community Champion' and donated £1,000 for it to train new volunteers.

The charity has been providing free emergency accommodation for young homeless people since 1993. The lodgings are for one night at a time in the home of a trained volunteer.

Demand for the service is growing, with the charity seeing an increase of 17 per cent from January to August this year compared to the same period in 2014.

Joy Rainbow, team leader at Bradford Nightstop, expressed the charity's appreciation to Persimmon for the firm's support: "We are experiencing a growing demand for our services and Persimmon’s generosity will enable us to train ten more volunteers. We envisage these additional individuals will increase our capacity so we can help around 200 more homeless young people each year."

Corine Campbell, the charity's project worker, emphasized the importance of volunteers: "Without volunteers there wouldn't be a service," she says.

The charity is currently seeking volunteer hosts from other communities who can help young people who don't speak English.

While many charities struggle to find volunteers, Corine says she believes many don't put themselves forward because they think they won't be able to do it.

"I think people have all sorts of reasons why they don't volunteer, it may be a crisis in confidence."

But she says for those who do the rewards are the satisfaction of helping others. "They say they feel the satisfaction of knowing they have kept a young person off the street, it is keeping a young person safe, and they haven't had to leave their home to do it."

Over in Otley, The Donkey Sanctuary - set up in 1969 by the late Dr Elisabeth Svendsen to alleviate the suffering of donkeys in 30 countries worldwide, is seeking to increase its retail team.

James Searle, Senior Retail Manager says: "If you enjoy talking to people and have great customer service skills then this could be right for you. We are looking for volunteers that are passionate and ready to get involved with communicating The Donkey Sanctuary’s worldwide work and in our exciting up-coming events!”

To volunteer for The Donkey Sanctuary contact Lynne Aldridge – Retail and Catering Manager - on 01943 465491, or visit the store at 14 Boroughgate, Otley, West Yorkshire LS21 3AL.

For more information on volunteering for The Cellar Trust, Farfield Road Shipley, call 01274 586 474 or email: mail@thecellartrust.org

And to find out more about volunteering for Bradford Nightstop call 01274 776888 or email projectworker@bradfordnightstop.org.uk