Our practical support volunteers can help with a range of activities so that you can focus on taking care of your child and making memories.

All our volunteers adhere to our COVID-19 procedures and all tasks are discussed fully with families and risk assessed before volunteers are allocated to assist them.

A housekeeping volunteer helps with laundry.

Shopping, food and ironing

Our volunteers can do the shopping and ensure the cupboards are stocked up. They can help with home food preparation, preparing ingredients into frozen, ready-made food parcels. If the ironing pile is getting out of hand, Demelza volunteers can help to lighten the load.
A person, wearing jeans and trainers is walking a small white and brown dog.

Pet care

Pets are a big part of any family, and often provide a much-needed focus for a family, as well as offering therapeutic benefits. Our volunteers can do dog walking, feed the cat, or take care of any other family pets.
Garden plant pots with colourful flowers.

Gardening

Time outside has lots of benefits. But it can be difficult to keep on top of gardening when there are so many other things to worry about. Our practical support volunteers help with gardening and outdoor DIY.
A practical support volunteer puts up blinds.

DIY

There are always jobs to be done around the house, but DIY often becomes secondary when caring for a child. Our practical support volunteers can help with DIY jobs such as painting, fencing, basic plumbing and more.
A practical support driver operates Demelza's wheelchair accessible vehicle.

Driving support

We understand that transport can be a worry sometimes and we can offer various solutions to support families. These include driving to hospital or clinical appointments, attending Demelza meetings or events, or prescription collections.

Zak's story

“Driving 45 minutes to hospital chemotherapy appointments was a real challenge. But Demelza stepped in to help. Their incredible Practical Support Volunteers drove Zak and his daddy to every appointment and brought them home again. No longer did we have to worry about finding parking nearby, the money for petrol or making poor Zak walk to the entrance in the pouring rain. All he wanted was to hold his daddy’s hand in the back of the car and thanks to the Demelza volunteer drivers he was able to.”

Caroline, Zak’s mummy

Zak is dressed up in a skeleton costume for Halloween.

“We supported Zak by driving him and his dad to his chemo appointments. Zak was a joyful, happy child. The last time I saw him his hair had grown back and I remember telling him he now had more hair than his daddy. Driving them to and from appointments took the stress away from them. I was always there on time and waiting for them when they came out. I never wanted them to have to worry.”

Practical Volunteer, David

Read Zak's story
Zak is dressed up in a skeleton costume for Halloween.

Want to enquire about practical support?

If you are a Demelza family and would like to access any of our support services or find out more, please call Family Support on 01795 845280, which is open every working weekday from 10am – 4pm, excluding public holidays. Alternatively, you can email our practical support team on practicalsupport@demelza.org.uk

If you're not currently supported by Demelza, complete our referral form to see how we can help.

Get in touch Referral form
Find out more about becoming a practical support volunteer