It was early 2007 and Tony was looking for something rewarding to fill his time.
He wasn’t consciously looking for a charity volunteering role, but one day while reading the Poole News, he was intrigued by an article about the Dorset Blind Association. He decided to come along and talk to us, and being interested by what he was told about our work, he decided to “give us a go” and hasn’t looked back since.
Tony originally started as a home visiting volunteer in Poole, but it was when he started to become regularly involved with our Lighthouse social group for visually impaired people of working-age that he really became hooked.
Tony loves the variation which comes with this group. He still visits people at home but is also involved in many activities and outings and regularly provides transport, which further adds to his value as a volunteer. Tony especially enjoys many of the outings, describing situations where he himself learns or experiences something new as a “win win” for both the visually impaired people he is helping, as well as for himself.
Tony regularly gives the Dorset Blind Association twenty hours or more of his time each month. He says that volunteering makes him feel useful and he gets a lot of pleasure from helping people who are less fortunate than himself. He really enjoys helping people such as Derek, who he has helped for several years now, come to terms with their sight loss. Over that time Tony says he has seen Derek become much more outgoing and positive and this, together with their steadily growing and developing relationship, has been very rewarding.