Volunteer With Us

The Rural Coffee Caravan is what it is because of our amazing volunteers!

From towing the caravan, to serving teas & coffees, to baking cakes, to lending a friendly ear, to setting up/packing up, flyering, IT and PR support, fundraising and pro bono contributions, we are lucky to have the support of a large team of volunteers and village representatives, who are all as passionate as we are about alleviating loneliness and the stresses of rural isolation across the county.

Helping us helps volunteers to build their skills, confidence and employability and has enabled many to become community champions within their own villages, acting as catalysts of change.

We are always looking for new volunteers! If you are looking for new and interesting ways of helping people and improving your skills, or maybe you’ve always dreamed of towing a caravan, then a rewarding and enjoyable volunteering opportunity is waiting for you, so please get in touch!

You can call Rural Coffee Caravan HQ on 01284 663 472 or email us by clicking on the button below.

We are looking for:

  • volunteer drivers to tow the caravan to rural Suffolk villages between April and October. No regular commitment is required, just whatever you can offer. Full training is given and your expenses paid (and there’s delicious cake while you work!);

  • volunteers to listen to, and chat with, visitors (training given);

  • landowners who would be happy to store the caravan overnight (to minimise our towing miles);

  • people to bake cakes for us (your expenses paid);

  • volunteers to help us make doorstep deliveries – these might be flyers to advertise visits, bunches of flowers, kindness cards.

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Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service

Rural Coffee Caravan was thrilled to become a recipient of The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2019. This is such a huge honour and a wonderful reward for our amazing volunteers, it is the equivalent of an MBE for voluntary groups. The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding work by volunteer groups to benefit their local communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and winners are announced each year on 2 June – the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.

Representing the ‘Coffee Caravan, our volunteer, Chris Hamilton, who has been towing the caravan for us for 12 years, and his wife Jen, attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace, along with other recipients of the year’s Award.

We first shared the announcement of the ‘Coffee Caravan being a named recipient, in June 2019, with the folk at one of our longest running ‘Coffee Caravan Visit Villages, Finningham, celebrating with special refreshments on the visit that day!

The crystal award was officially presented to the Rural Coffee Caravan’s founder, Canon Sally Fogden, by Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant – Clare, Countess of Euston in a ceremony at Felsham Hall Barn, Bury St Edmunds in October 2019. Over seventy people including staff, volunteers, trustees and representatives from partner agencies were present, and each of the ‘Coffee Caravan’s volunteers were presented with their own individual thank you by Sally, in the form of a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service enamel pin badge.

The award is the highest given to local Volunteer groups across the UK, recognising outstanding work in their communities, and our receipt of it is testament to the wonderful enthusiasm, dedication and hard work our volunteers constantly and consistently offer us.

Any group doing volunteer work that provides a social, economic or environmental service to the local community can be nominated for the award. Full details on how to nominate can be found on the QAVS website.

We have some amazing volunteers and volunteer organisations in Suffolk – so let’s get voting and bring some more awards home to Suffolk!