Volunteer with Crisis this Christmas and be there for someone as they build a life beyond homelessness.
Crisis at Christmas 2024 has now finished. We will be opening volunteering opportunities for Crisis at Christmas 2025 later in the year. You can find information about our year-round volunteering opportunities on our Merseyside Skylight page.
Crisis works at Christmas and all year round in Merseyside to help people experiencing homelessness find their own stable home and access education and training. Every Christmas, local volunteers come together to provide warmth, companionship and vital services to our members (people experiencing homelessness) at one of the toughest times of the year.
Join our friendly and supportive volunteer community that’s passionate about ending homelessness. With many volunteers returning year after year, the connections you make at Christmas can be long-lasting. And the relationships you build with people experiencing homelessness can be life-changing.
We ran an exciting range of Christmas events in December 2024 and January 2025, and were supported by a wonderful team of volunteers during the festive period. Their help was invaluable in various roles, including:
At Crisis, we celebrate diversity, champion equality, and actively challenge discrimination.
It’s great that you want to support us this Christmas! There are lots of opportunities to support us through fundraising or campaigning work. To find out more, click through Other ways to support buttons on the Crisis at Christmas webpage.
Of course, you are welcome to volunteer in a new shift, location or a different role if we have space available.
If you are feeling poorly we urge you to not volunteer until you are feeling better.
As we prioritise the health of our guests, volunteers who display any symptoms will be asked to leave their shift.
Some of our roles require previous experience or qualifications and others do not.
Professional service volunteers, such as those completing health checks or haircuts will require the relevant qualifications and public liability insurance.
In some roles we may be looking for volunteers with experience of supporting people who are homeless or other vulnerable adult groups. Information about each role will be listed on our website and throughout your volunteer application form. Please check this information before applying to ensure you are applying for the most suitable role for you.
The voice and expertise of people with lived experience is vital in ensuring our service is truly meeting the needs of our members. We encourage anyone with lived experience to apply for our volunteer roles.
We also involve members and people with lived experience of homelessness in opportunities across the organisation including our Experts by Experience panel. For more details, please speak to your local Volunteer and Involvement Lead.
We do not ask for references for Christmas volunteers.
At Christmas, due to the volume of volunteers recruited, we are unable to provide detailed references. We will only provide a start and finish date for those who have completed a volunteering shift in the previous two years. The only exception to this is for the lead/senior volunteers who work closely with Crisis and members of staff beyond the Christmas service delivery period.
At Christmas, due to the volume of volunteers recruited we are unable to cover expenses.
Many of the roles in our services will require a disclosure check, (either basic or enhanced) - you will be able to see this on the role description. If the role does, we use a digital system to manage this and we will request and pay for it (where payment is needed).
If you have a criminal conviction, this does not automatically mean you cannot volunteer for us. However, we may need to ask you more about the conviction to be able to do a risk assessment and decide if you can or cannot volunteer.
As part of our recruitment, we will ask you to meet with us, either virtually or in person. We see this meeting as a conversation where we can find out more about you and your suitability for the volunteer role while also giving you the chance to find out more about us and whether the role is right for you. We want you to feel relaxed and comfortable when we meet, and we will share with you some guidance notes to help with this.
You will receive an induction into your role ahead of your first shift, and there will be relevant e-learning available to you on My Crisis Volunteering.
Events are mainly in Liverpool City Centre or St Helens Town Centre.
We offer volunteering opportunities throughout the year, which are listed on our volunteering webpages.
If you don't see any roles currently available for your Skylight, it means there are no volunteering positions open at the moment. However, you can still contribute to ending homelessness by volunteering to raise funds and awareness. You can find these opportunities on our fundraising pages. Alternatively, please do check back regularly as we are sure opportunities will come up.
If you think someone is homeless, and you feel comfortable, please speak to them and offer them support in the first instance to contact the Housing Options Service at your local council. If they still need further support with homelessness please ask them to call our Skylight on 0151 218 7000.
Please contact christmas.merseyside@crisis.org.uk with what you would like to donate and we can advise you.
