In this blog, we hear from Sophie, the Volunteer Centre Coordinator here at the VC. Sophie, a recent MSc graduate of the LSE, joined the Girlguiding organsation as a unit helper for her local Brownie unit in an effort to connect further with the London community. She reflects on her journey so far with her Brownies and considers the social meanings assigned to volunteering. 

Every Wednesday evening begins the same: with squeals of delight and stomping of 15 different seven-to-ten-year-olds as they jump rope together. Some are more advanced and coordinated than others. Some have already spent the day together in school and others are seeing each other for the first time in a week. Some are shy, some are talkative. But my Brownies are all remarkably kind, smart, and passionate. I say remarkably because I simply cannot imagine I possessed all of these qualities to the extent that they do when I was their age, but who knows! It’s been a while since I was seven and a Brownie.

I began my journey with Girlguiding at the beginning of the academic year in 2023—before that I was a Brownie for a troop back in the U.S., a part of our equivalent organisation of “Girl Scouts.” As the present-day Coordinator for the Volunteer Centre at LSE, it is hard not to be tempted to want to volunteer for all hundreds of the different opportunities we help promote and support on CareerHub at any given time. As I collaborate with the charities and approve their volunteering roles for advertising, I often wonder if I could just squeeze one more thing into my weekly schedule.

Of course, this is at times overwhelming. I am a very passionate person with both broad and niche interests and I sift through amazing causes and opportunities every single day. How can I just choose one? Do I even need to choose one? What would be the most fulfilling to my life, and what is going to make the biggest difference? There are lots of questions that typically go through a volunteer’s mind before they commit to something. But in September when I was approving the opportunity posting calling for Brownie unit helpers in London, I just knew that this would be one that I wanted to commit to regularly. Not only did I feel like I had something to contribute to a bunch of seven-to-ten-year-olds lives, but I also could be more involved in my “new” home city of London. I immediately reached out and was paired with my local unit, just a twenty-minute walk from my flat. As it turns out, they were looking for a consistent unit helper who could help support the sessions. It was exactly the kind of role I was looking for.

Before my first visit to my unit, I was very nervous. Would the girls like me? Do I even know anything about what this age likes to talk about? As it turns out, to a person like me, two hours of Brownies is pretty much heaven. Games, crafts, activities, socializing! Each week I went back with the goal in mind that I wanted to talk with a new Brownie and learn a little bit more about her: how old she was, her likes and dislikes, if she enjoyed school or had a favorite subject, whether she was a Swiftie and if she liked slime, etc. Slowly, I developed personal bonds with each of them and then one week, I didn’t need to go up to them for conversation. They came to me. Sometimes it was with silly questions (i.e. “Why aren’t there Disneylands in every country?”), sometimes it was confiding in more intimate worries (“I have a choir performance on Friday and I’m really nervous about it”). The more we talked, the more effort I was able to put in to make sure they had the best two hours of their week—that they felt respected and safe, so they could have the most fun and learn about our next badge.

Now that I’ve completed a full term—myriad games, badges, and excursions later—with these girls and my fellow leaders, I’ve done significant reflection on what it means to make a “difference” in someone’s life as a volunteer. Volunteering carries many different social meanings, but I think no matter what you do, volunteering typically has to do with the “betterment” of something, whether it means bettering the world, a cause or sector you care about, or bettering your skills and CV. All of this being said, I have always struggled with assigning a hierarchy of meaning to what “betterment” looks like; surely there are some charitable causes and voluntary work that is more meaningful than others, right? Am I changing the world through my Brownie unit, a unit that resides in a very affluent area of London when there are people in this city who desperately need support in a cost-of-living crisis? Am I transforming our community as we spend more time trying to choose what game we are going to play than we do on anything else when our climate is rapidly changing? Am I “bettering” enough to actually change the world when I’m having an off day or when I have to miss Brownies?

These concerns are both true and trivialized at the same time when I remember how my Wednesday evenings make me feel. Just two hours with those 15 girls and I experience a very full spectrum of emotions. I am in awe of their resilience as they cry one minute and laugh hysterically the next. I am honored when they ask me questions about moving to London or when they ask about my masters (even when they quickly loose interest after I tell them what a masters actually entails). I am shocked when I watch them zoom across our room, over and over again, wondering when was the last time I had that much physical energy. I am joyful when I see the wonderment in their eyes when we get to play their favorite game, when we take attendance and hear about their favorite parts of their day, which often ranges from their snack that day to coming to Brownies. Every Wednesday evening, I enter a world where I can be present in only that moment in time, and my primary job is to have fun and make friendships. For some reason, these kinds of moments feel rare as an adult.

The space that we create at Brownies, a safe place to experiment with ideas, to learn skills outside of a classroom, to make friendship and to have fun, is something unquestionably worth cherishing and protecting. Whether one of my Brownies grows up to solve world problems, or whether they all are “just” good community members, they are valuable simply in their existence of being small humans who practice the Girlguiding values every day. Perhaps the most important social meaning Brownies delivers is the importance of friendship and empowerment, something that is so radical in a world that feels like it’s filled with struggle and pain. If my contribution to the world is creating a safe place for these young girls to grow and learn, then I think I’m doing something right.

Every Wednesday ends the same: we say goodnight to each other and I help walk the girls down to their caretakers. Sometimes they hold my hand while we wait, sometimes they want some space. If I’m lucky, I get a hug. Each one leaves with a smile, if not a wide grin, on their face. It might not change the whole world, but it has changed mine, and I’m excited to come back every week.

You can learn more about how to volunteer with Girlguiding here.

If Sophie has inspired you to volunteer, check out one of our other ongoing opportunities or book a one-to-one with David Coles, the Volunteer Centre Manager if you have more questions. And why not follow us on Twitter, and Instagram to stay up-to-date with our events and opportunities and read our blog for more volunteering tips and stories.