CamSight

CamSight is a Cambridgeshire charity that supports local people of all ages living with low vision and blindness to live the lives they choose. We work to enhance independence, improve well-being, and improve inclusion.

Our befriending service seeks to improve the well-being and emotional outcomes of people living with sight loss. Through a carefully considered process, we match volunteers with clients based on skills/needs, personality and interests. Volunteers are supported in the matching process and beyond by a dedicated volunteer supervisor who will check in on you and the client at regular pre-agreed intervals. Some volunteers will provide friendship, others will be there to help the client meet a particular need.

We welcome all volunteers to our team (we often speaking about our "volunteering community") where we support volunteers through our Volunteering Academy (an optional skills and training opportunities programme), have a volunteer panel to feedback to us about the CamSight volunteer experience, and offer celebratory/thank you events at key moments in the year.

Information for volunteers

Our Befriending Service is currently recruiting a Volunteer Coordinator and re-launching after a period of closure (our main reason for joining the Befriending Network is to ensure our offer is professional and to a high-standard). We are not yet recruiting volunteers to these roles as the service is being reviewed and role descriptions re-written.

Everything we do, and re-structure will be in-line with our organisation mission and values which seeks to promote the continued independence of the service user within their own community for as long as reasonably possible. We seek to support the client to live the life THEY want for as long as they are able to.

Our service and volunteer roles within it will support this ethos. Please find a copy of our vision and values below:

Our vision
A world of equality, in which people of all ages whom are blind or have low vision achieve the possibilities they choose in life.

Our values
At CamSight, we strive for a world of equality, in which people of all ages who have low vision and blindness achieve the possibilities they choose in life. In this mission, we aim to uphold the following values in all that we do:

Person-centred

Our beneficiaries are at the heart of everything we do at CamSight. We see individuals as whole people, not defined by one element of their lives. Our work is holistic in approach. All are welcome at CamSight.

Empowering

We enable everyone to be able to reach their full potential. We provide the tools, information, and advice to allow people to live the lives they choose. We do not prescribe or dictate terms, we empower decision and action. We invest in our staff and volunteers to meet their aspirations and those of CamSight.

Friendly

We are caring and empathetic to all we work with. We are a friendly voice at the end of a telephone call or a friendly face to chat with over a cup of tea. We are responsive in our communication and in our work. We create a positive, professional environment in which to work.

Collaborative

We work well together and with others. We are flexible and adaptable in our approach, looking to build our partnerships and networks for the benefit of our beneficiaries.

Accountable

We are accountable to each other and to our beneficiaries. We monitor and report our impact, our finances, our progress, and our plans in an open and honest way. We build trust through transparency. We welcome feedback and we work to improve.