Café and Volunteer Co-ordinator

As part of its outreach to serve the local community St George the Martyr Church in Borough SE1, is establishing a Community Café.
The café, which will be a free resource for local residents, will serve tea, coffee and cakes and will initially open every Wednesday afternoon – it is hoped from around mid May – from 2pm to 4.30pm.

The purpose of the café is to provide local residents – and especially older, isolated and more vulnerable residents – with a warm, welcoming and pleasant environment in which to socialise, to meet other residents and volunteers.

The café will also act as a distribution point for the Oasis Centre Food Bank.
An important aspect of the café we want to develop is its use it to signpost guests to other local services, especially relevant statutory and third sector services. We will invite those services to give presentations and offer practical help to café users in a programme to be developed throughout the year.

Duties and responsibilities
The Café and Volunteer co-ordinator will be responsible for all aspects of the running of the café and in particular:
• Recruiting and arranging for training for volunteers
• Set up, oversight and put-away of the café on the day
• Liaison with Mother’s Union, local businesses and others who will provide cakes and liaising with the parish to ensure adequate catering supplies
• Management of cash donations to the café.
• Management of the distribution of the Food Bank and managing the relationship with Oasis Food Bank e.g. to maintain stock levels
• With the parish priest, developing links with other local service providers
• Developing a programme of themed events and discussions aimed at those with particular needs

Hours of work and Role Development
• Normal 5 hours per week, most of which will be worked on Wednesday afternoons.
This will include:
- set-up time, opening hours’ time, and close-down time for the café
- a regular time for development of the café. Some of this will be possible within café hours.
However, especially in the early days it is expected that additional time for development will be required.

• Once established it is hoped to open the café on an additional day – probably Thursday.
• It is anticipated that the role will develop within 6-9 months and that working hours may increase – possibly double to 10 hours per week over 2 days

We are looking for an outgoing, welcoming, problem-solving individual with a strong customer service ethos and an understanding of some of the challenges facing by our community especially by those who are vulnerable and isolated within it.

We are also looking for someone who:
• is well able to organise and motivate others
• admin experience to enable management of stock
• has a strong sense of empathy towards those who are vulnerable and isolated.
• has experience of health and safety and catering or retail logistics A management role in this area would be preferred.

The individual will be required to have or be willing to apply for full enhanced DBS clearance.

St George the Martyr with St Alphege and St Jude, Southwark is in the Liberal Catholic tradition of the Church of England.
The parish is a warm, vibrant and inclusive community, set within a dynamic area of regeneration

The café and volunteer coordinator will be employed by the parish and PCC of St George the Martyr and line-managed by the parish priest Jonathan Sedgwick

St George The Martyr Church is an equal opportunities employer. We value diversity and welcome applicants from all backgrounds.