Volunteering at The Nest

The Nest is only able to run thanks to the support of our amazing volunteers!
We have a range of activities which are carried out by volunteers:

- Lots of our volunteers work in the shop whilst it is open,
greeting customers, working on the till, and helping
re-stock the shelves.

- Some of our volunteers assist during our big delivery which
we get once a month. They help carry the crates of food into
the shop and then sort it all and display it ready
for our customers!

- Some of our other volunteers collect food from the various
supermarkets who provide us with food.

- We are also looking for dedicated volunteers to join our team at The Nest Café on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. As we prepare to expand our hours to include Fridays and Saturdays, we will need even more hands to help us serve our community. Whether you can commit to a few hours or more, your time and energy will play a key role in making our cafe a welcoming place for all.

- Volunteers at The Nest Café assist with a variety of tasks, including preparing and serving food and drinks, welcoming customers, keeping the cafe tidy, and creating a friendly, inviting atmosphere. You’ll also have the opportunity to connect with our community, supporting our mission to provide affordable food and a warm space for everyone. Your help makes a direct impact on the families and individuals who visit our cafe each day.

We are always looking for new volunteers at The Nest shop and at The Nest Café, as we keep growing so we keep needing new people to help out! There are opportunities to do a lot of hours, or just one shift every other week, so if you are at all interested in helping out it is definitely worth applying to be a volunteer. If you do apply and we don't have any space you will be added to our waiting list, and we will get in touch when a space opens up. We provide all our volunteers with induction and appropriate training, so you will be well-prepared for your duties!

If you are interested in volunteering with us you can fill in a volunteer application form and either email it to thenestweymouth@gmail.com or drop it into the shop whilst we are open. If you have any questions about volunteering, or you have trouble filling in the application form, just get in touch and we will be happy to give you a hand!

Current volunteering vacancies (last updated 12/07/25):

We are currently looking for volunteers to help with the following roles, if you are interested, or would like to find out more then please get in touch! These tasks need to be done every week, but if you would prefer to do them fortnightly then we can set up a rota for them.

- We are always looking for people to join our team of food collectors. We collect from both Waitrose stores in Dorchester 3 evenings a week and also from Weymouth Lidl 5 nights a week. Following, collection the food needs to be dropped off at The Nest. There is sometimes quite a lot of food, so you will need a reasonable amount of space in your vehicle.

- We are also on the look out for people to join our team at The Nest Cafe to help with preparing food, serving customers and maintaining a welcoming atmosphere. Our cafe, located at our Westham branch in Weymouth, currently operates Monday to Thursday. If we had more suitable volunteers