Volunteering at The Welcoming

Our volunteers support English classes, friendship groups, health and wellbeing activities, sustainability activities, and events.


Current opportunities

Community Garden Volunteer

As spring begins we are looking for volunteers to help cultivate our beautiful Welcoming Community Garden space which is located in Saughton Mains Allotments.

What does a Community Garden Volunteer do?

The Welcoming Community Garden supplies fresh seasonal food to our Community Fridge and is a community space were people can develop food-growing skills as well as learning about the different local and seasonal food we grow here in Scotland. Volunteers will support our food growing Project Coordinator with garden maintenance and further development of the community garden.

Skills and Expectations

If you have some knowledge of food-growing it would be preferable, but not essential to the role. What we are looking for are volunteers who are willing to share skills and learn from others, with good interpersonal skills in a team working environment and at least an intermediate level of English. Expectations are a willingness to work with Project Coordinator and other volunteers to offer feedback and bring ideas for the community garden.

Volunteer are asked to commit to at least two volunteer sessions per week, average of 2 hours per session with one volunteer meeting a month.

Please see below a full description of this volunteering opportunity:

Apply via our online application form:

Volunteer Befriender

We are looking for new Volunteer Befrienders to join us at The Welcoming!

What does a Befriender do?

The role of a Befriender is to share social and cultural activities with
New Scots (refugees, asylum seekers and migrant), help them feel more
comfortable in their new community and offer informal support with
English language learning, on a 1:1 basis.

I get a great deal of personal satisfaction from the befriending experience. I
genuinely could not think of a more rewarding way to spend my Thursday lunch
break as the family are so lovely and welcoming, and my New Scot friend always
seems so grateful to see me!

Volunteer Befriender 2022

The befriending programme last for 9 months and the Befriender time commitment is an average of 1-3 hours per week.

To find out more about this volunteering opportunity click here:

For more information, please contact our Befriending Manager – [email protected]


Have a question about volunteering?

To find out more about volunteering, please contact [email protected]

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General information for volunteers


Volunteering opportunities with our partners

We work with a range of organisations across Edinburgh and Scotland. Sometimes our partners have volunteering opportunities which are relevant for our volunteers.

Volunteer Mentor with Project Scotland

Can you spare an hour a week to mentor a young New Scot to get on in life? This role will involve being matched to one young person, meeting with them once a week or fortnight and supporting the young person to reach their potential,

The Welcoming and ProjectScotland have formed a partnership to launch a unique project supporting young asylum seekers, refugees and migrants (aged 16-30) across Edinburgh and Dundee. The Inspire Project in Edinburgh aims to address these challenges and break down barriers by providing structured volunteering placements, employability support and mentoring opportunities

For more information, contact [email protected]

Volunteer