Paws for thought with dedicated volunteer Steve

Steve is one of our own. He volunteers with us five days a week and is a big part of the Bread and Butter family.  He worked for years as a self-employed decorator locally and was forced to retire due to health issues and the loss of his beloved dog Charlie. Steve needed to escape his empty house and found purpose volunteering here with us. Join Alex and Mark as they chat to Steve about why volunteering is so important to him and navigating grief. Tissues at the ready…

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:11

Hello again, we're here for the next instalment of a slice of bread and butter with Alex and Mark from the Bread and Butter Thing. We're a charity that delivers affordable food to the heart of struggling neighbourhoods to help nourish communities and act as a catalyst for change.

Speaker 2 0:24

We provide access to a healthy, affordable range of food, which means our members can save money on their shopping, feed their families healthily, as well as access other support too, Right at the heart of their communities, and this is where we share a slice of life of somebody involved in bread and butter and hear about how they connect with us.

Speaker 1 0:39

And this time it's our Steve. He's one of our longest serving and most dedicated volunteers.

Speaker 2 0:45

We love.

Speaker 1 0:45

Steve, we love Steve and he loves being in the fridges, which is one of the toughest jobs in the warehouse. How cold does it get in there?

Speaker 2 0:53

Mark. It's funny because it's not as cold as people think, so it's about three degrees right. Being a northerner, that's fine, and actually when it gets frosty outside it's really weird because if you go in there, you can go in and have a warm, because it actually feels warm inside there. If it's kind of frosty, I'll take your word for it. Well, my dad was a frozen food wholesaler, so I'm used to big freezers, never mind fridges, and they're at minus 18.

Speaker 1 1:15

You've got lizard blood.

Speaker 2 1:16

Okay.

Speaker 1 1:19

Oh, he's just brilliant and he proves that volunteering is as much about what it does for the person giving their time as it is about those receiving it. Steve sadly lost his beloved dog Charlie a few years ago, and for him, bread and butter has helped him get out of the house and get back on track, but I warn you, it's an emotional one.

Speaker 3 1:52

I heard about the backpack from a pub. I started and then found out about other hubs. So I went and helped a few other hubs and then eventually I opened up for one in Flixen. On the Friday I did one in Sale, Timpley, the Lakeley.

Speaker 1 2:10

How many days volunteering. Do you do for us now Five?

Speaker 3 2:13

days.

Speaker 1 2:14

Five days a week, that's brilliant. And if you don't mind, sharing about your bad health, I've got prostate cancer.

Speaker 3 2:22

I've got three heart stents. I've got lung problems. I've had two. Lots of cancer took out my mouth. It's in my neck but they won't operate because I had the stroke last year. I'm having trouble with one of my eyes at the moment. I'm going in for an eye operation where they've got to drill and do what they have to do, and that's about it.

Speaker 1 2:52

Not much, then, and you're still volunteering five days a week.

Speaker 3 2:55

Yes, Well, it keeps me going because if I was at home I'd just be watching telly. You can only watch so much telly. And it's keeping me healthy because when I first started, when I went in the fridge, I could only stay in ten minutes. I can stay in because of my lungs and it doesn't bother me staying in for a long time now.

Speaker 1 3:16

All that fridge time has trained you up. Yeah, and what did you used to do for work?

Speaker 3 3:21

I was a self-employed decorator when I started having heart problems. I thought it's time to you know, pack it in. So then I volunteered for six and a half years on the local park. Then I answered a message on Facebook about doing repairs, and that at a scout hut. So I joined that group. And then I heard about bread and butter.

Speaker 1 3:48

And the rest is history. What else does volunteering bring to your life?

Speaker 3 3:54

I just enjoy it, and it's just to see people's faces when you're helping them, so I get a lot out of that.

Speaker 1 4:03

Tell us about warehouse life. What's it like in the thick of it, oh god?

Speaker 3 4:09

sometimes there's a lot of shouting Thursday I do like, because we get special needs coming in and they're great to work with talk us through your week on a.

Speaker 3 4:20

Monday I get there for about 9 o'clock, leave about half past 12 to get to Lostock and do the hub there. Tuesdays I take off Wednesday at the yard, then I go off to Gorse Hill, usually about four o'clock. I'll go home Thursday back to the yard, usually backpacking or throw some food, and sometimes I go up to Blakely first and do that hub and rush back to Oddsall and after that hub I go to Hume to do Compassion. And the Friday sometimes I go back in the yard for a couple of hours. Then I have to go about 10 because I have to open the scout hut and then half 2ish quarter to 3, home time. Then Saturday back in the yard at 9 and I can be there till 4 o'clock. So that's my week then.

Speaker 1 5:24

It's all very physical.

Speaker 3 5:27

Yes, but I've started driving picking stuff up.

Speaker 1 5:32

But you sleep well at night after all that. Oh, I do yes.

Speaker 3 5:35

I always have a sleep when I get home.

Speaker 1 5:39

What's your favourite thing to do?

Speaker 3 5:43

I would have to say the veterans' breakfast Out of all bread and butter. I like doing it all. I like swinging crates about. Weights. Don't bother me.

Speaker 1 5:59

Coldness is not nice can you think of any funny stories? Have you fallen in any springy juice like our Jenny?

Speaker 3 6:07

tomatoes. The whole palate went over Tomatoes and peppers. It was.

Speaker 2 6:14

I just dived in.

Speaker 3 6:15

I was full of tomato juice and pips everywhere, but I picked it all up.

Speaker 1 6:23

You sound like you're a tidy person, steve Not at home.

Speaker 3 6:28

I'm not. No, I lost, not at home, no, so now I've lost interest at home since I lost my dog. The house is not the same tell us about your dog he's a King Charles.

Speaker 3 6:39

I had him nearly 14 years and he had about three strokes. So he used to go to the park. He couldn't walk so I used to have to carry. So he used to go to the park. He couldn't walk, so I used to have to carry him and sit down next to the pond and someone offered me a pram so I could lie him down in the pram. So I pushed him around in the pram for six months.

Speaker 1 7:05

Oh, steve, what was his name? Charlie, charlie, charlie, are you going to get another one?

Speaker 3 7:11

He died in my arms. Oh don't, steve.

Speaker 2 7:18

So it took me a couple of years.

Speaker 3 7:19

Then I started doing dog walking. I had to get out of the house because, with the dog not being there it was.

Speaker 1 7:29

The house feels so empty, doesn't it? So keeping yourself busy five days a week volunteering, I bet that's helped.

Speaker 3 7:37

Yes, the more I'm out of the house, the happier I am, but I did start thinking last week about getting another dog. I think that would be a great idea. Being a volunteer, I can go home anytime and take it for a walk. You see, I also feed a fox at night time.

Speaker 1 7:56

Have you got a name for him?

Speaker 3 7:58

No, Once you start naming them, you want them in the house.

Speaker 1 8:05

You sound like a real animal lover. So how many different organisations do you volunteer with? So obviously Bread and Butter?

Speaker 3 8:13

Bread and Butter, the Scout Huts and the Veterans.

Speaker 1 8:18

And what will you be doing for Christmas? I go out.

Speaker 3 8:22

Oh, I serve breakfast for homeless.

Speaker 1 8:25

And where's that?

Speaker 3 8:27

Just down the road from Lost Lock Hub there's a big circle. It's called Seven Ways. It's a church on the corner.

Speaker 1 8:34

Have you got any plans for next year or any hopes?

Speaker 3 8:40

No, just carry on bread and butter, unless I've found something else. But I don't think anything beats bread and butter.

Speaker 1 8:48

Don't leave us, steve, eh Don't leave us. Steve, eh, don't leave us. Place will collapse without you.

Speaker 3 8:54

Well, I love going to all the different hubs, so I'm looking forward to going to see them today.

Speaker 2 9:09

OK, let's get the dog out of the way'm sad for steve. Uh, I feel brokenhearted. I know what it's like to lose dogs and it really does affect you massively. And I know they're just animals, but if you're a dog lover just if you're a dog lover it rips your heart out when you lose one. Yeah, I feel for you, steve, I really do, but what a guy and I gotta tell you he reminds me of my dad he's got all the.

Speaker 2 9:34

I lost my dad a few years ago, but my dad was the same big dog lover, had all these illnesses, loved being in fridges, but just carried on and just wanted to carry on. Right and steve's the same. For me there's echoes of common values here and I'm sure, if we looked, six degrees of separation would not be as far as you think.

Speaker 1 9:54

Did your dad give good hugs?

Speaker 2 9:56

He did. But I've got to tell you, Steve's, I've never had a hug off Steve.

Speaker 1 10:00

You need to have one because they're good.

Speaker 2 10:02

Okay.

Speaker 1 10:04

Yeah, he's an absolute Trojan, isn't he? A powerhouse of a man keeping himself so so busy with the veterans, breakfast being in the warehouse and then being out at the hubs as well.

Speaker 2 10:17

The man doesn't stop. But there's a common thread again here that we're seeing Alex, which is we've talked to others on the podcast about a catalyst to get out. Steve lost Charlie. Steve was at home lonely and, credit to him, found whatever he needed to find internally to get out and start volunteering and engaging again and that's turned him around and that's fantastic.

Speaker 1 10:41

That purpose.

Speaker 2 10:43

Yeah.

Speaker 1 10:43

That purpose. I've heard a volunteer previously describe Hub Day as Sanity Day, and Steve has sorted himself five sanity days. But let's not lie, let's not beat about the bush. He needs another dog, doesn't he?

Speaker 2 10:59

Yeah, let's get on a mission. So this is the deal I had to do with my dad. So we have to find somebody that will do this deal with Steve, because he will be worried, like my dad was, that the dog will outlive him. Yes, that'll do this deal with Steve because he will be worried, like my dad was, that the dog will outlive him. Yes, so there needs to be some sort of support in whenever we get Steve a dog, or whoever gets Steve a dog that they know, steve can feel reassured that that dog will be looked after if he goes first do we need to let Jane know that there's another dog coming?

Speaker 2 11:29

Yeah, it could be something like that. As long as it's a big dog, though, I like big dogs. Charlie was not a big dog.

Speaker 1 11:35

He could fit in a pram.

Speaker 2 11:40

Talking about volunteering again and the benefits that come to people from volunteering. Alex, one of the things that we found is the vast majority of people that come to volunteer with us all say that they've found new friends and have new friends because of volunteering right. So that builds your social network. So not only does, like you were saying, the sanity days of volunteering on the day, but also you've got wider benefits from it than that, because you've now got a friendship circle right. You've got new friends to engage with in and out of bread and butter.

Speaker 1 12:12

So I think it's a really powerful thing to volunteer absolutely, and if anyone out there fancies it, drop us an email to hello at breadandbutterthingorg. We love to have you along, nice plug. So if you'd like to know more about the bread and butter thing and what we get up to, find us at team tbbt on instagram, twitter, on linkedin or online at breadandbutterthingorg and if you have any feedback or thoughts on the podcast or would like to come and be our guest, we'd love to talk to you.

Speaker 1 12:51

Drop us an email at podcast at breadandbutterthingorg lastly, we're always open to new members at all our hubs. If you or someone you know would benefit from our affordable food scheme, you can find your nearest hub on our become a member page on the website and please do all those things that podcast ask you to do.

Speaker 2 13:08

Like us, subscribe to us, leave us a review, share us with your friends and chat about us on social Great stuff.

Speaker 1 13:14

So see you next time. Okie doke, see you next time. Bye.