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Volunteer with us
Our volunteers have provided more than 1.9 million free meals to people in need across Edinburgh.
We'd love it if you could join our community.
If you would like to volunteer with us, please fill out the form below.
You will then receive an email with some more information and be able to sign up for an induction. At the induction you will hear more about the roles and how everything works!
You can find more information about our different volunteer roles below.
Please note, to volunteer with us you must be 16 years of age or older.
If you have any questions, want to know more, or would rather phone us or email us, you can contact us by:
Email: volunteer@emptykitchens.co.uk
Phone: 07918 121606
We have lots of different roles available across different areas of the organisation, including:
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Delivery drivers and cyclists
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Kitchen Porters
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Kitchen Assistants
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Packers
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Cleaning
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Gardening
There are also administrative roles that require some training or experience in Logistics, Volunteer Services, Rota Management, Welcome Desk, and Service User Engagement teams. Please click on/hover over the images below to find out more about each role.
We have shifts in the morning and afternoon from Sunday - Friday (we are not operational on Saturdays).
Volunteers can sign up for shifts up to a month in advance, using our rota software called RotaCentral. We like to keep things very flexible to accommodate everyone’s availability.
Deliveries
Car or Bike
A delivery shift will generally cover a maximum of 10-15 stops depending on your route, method of transport and amount of people volunteering that day.
If you are volunteering as a cyclist or driver, you must have your own bike or car and this role involves use of a smartphone with internet access as this is how your delivery route is distributed. You must be comfortable using simple technology such as satnav within Google maps.
We also have a van which can be driven by anyone over 25, but only if you have first done a number of delivery shifts.
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Kitchen Assistant
Our Kitchen Assistant role involves helping our Head Chefs to prepare meals for our service users such as soups and pasta or rice-based mains. Our kitchen is a busy place, with a fabulous team who do remarkable work. Our Kitchen Volunteers create meals based on whatever food has been recently donated, so our menu can be hugely varied!.
Kitchen Porter
The Kitchen Porter role supports our chefs to free up their time to focus on cooking. This involves dish-washing in a dedicated area adjoining our kitchen. KPs may also assist with basic food preparation such as washing, peeling, and chopping vegetables. There can be some heavy lifting and using our commercial dishwasher.
Packing
Our packing shifts consist of turning the cooked meals into individual portions and meal packs. It is a varied role and you can be doing anything including portioning cooked meals, building meal packs, slicing bread, labelling allergens, cleaning, or unloading deliveries.
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Cleaning
The cleaning shift is a nice short, 2-hour shift which is great for anyone who wants to support us but who doesn’t have a lot of time to give. It involves sweeping and mopping the hall, foyer, corridors and toilets. Our cleaning volunteers are really essential to our operations in allowing us to maintain a hygienic food-handling environment throughout the building.
Administration
Running a charitable organisation requires administration support across the Welcome Desk, Logistics, Rota Management, Volunteer Services, and Service User Engagement teams.
These roles require a regular weekly commitment.
Please just let us know when you apply if you can assist with any of these areas.
Please complete the form below. You will then receive all the information you need to get started.
You can also give us a call on 07918 121606.
Group Volunteering Days
Does your workplace offer volunteering days during which you can come and spend time helping an organisation in your community? We’d be delighted to host your team for a day on site, where you’d be able to help out with kitchen and packing-based tasks preparing our meal packs, and you could also help with deliveries if you’re coming by car or bike.
We are generally able to host groups of 4-6 team members from approximately 9.30am - 4.30pm but please get in touch to discuss your day with us in more detail.
Organising Your Group Volunteering Day
The first step will be arranging a convenient day to come and volunteer. These tend to be on a Wednesday, and the team will work with you to find a mutually convenient date. You’ll then have a call - or even better, a site visit! - with one of our team, who will run through the shape of the day and answer any questions you might have. You’ll also be asked to complete a ‘One-off Volunteering Agreement’ before you come on site with us. Please get in touch using the button below to find out more and arrange your day with us.