Helping Hands Project Manager

We’re seeking a self-motivated, creative, practical person to join our garden makeover team. Working on one of our flagship charitable programmes known as ‘Helping Hands’ this is an immensely rewarding role which has a direct impact on families we support.

This is a unique and diverse role which involves liaising with our families and then designing and delivering personalised garden makeovers for them with teams of corporate volunteers supporting. The end outcome of these projects enables children and young people with complex health needs to access their outside spaces safely which makes a huge difference to their quality of life. Many of these children struggle to leave the home environment, so a safe and accessible garden space is essential to get them outside.

For some examples of the incredible work and positive impact our Helping Hands Team have had on our families through these projects see our website: Transforming home & garden spaces | WellChild
We are also fully committed to upskilling and training the right person to enable them to do this role.

A bit about us:

WellChild, based in Cheltenham, is the national charity for seriously ill children and their families. Through a range of practical and emotional support, training and information programmes, WellChild gives children and young people with complex medical needs the best chance to thrive at home.

Purpose of the Role:

The garden makeover (Helping Hands) team provides practical support to families by enlisting the help of corporate volunteer teams from companies across the UK to undertake one-off improvement projects to create safe, accessible sensory gardens for children and young people with complex health needs.

There are six key parts to this role:

1) Meeting with our beneficiary families to identify the needs for their outside space. Using empathy and active listening to ensure you can gather all the relevant information for a successful transformation.

2) Project design and procurement of materials to deliver a suitable space, that not only meets the beneficiaries needs, but is also delivered within our time and budget specifications.

3) Compile all relevant project documentation and engage with the allocated team of corporate volunteers.

4) Deliver your design over two days (which may include overnight stays depending on project location) with an enthusiastic but often unskilled group of corporate volunteers. You will need to inspire and empower these teams in all elements of the delivery of your project and be the subject matter expert as the sole representative on site from WellChild.

5) Complete post makeover administration on our equipment and communication with the corporate volunteers.

6) Management of each makeover’s financial budgets, for equipment, materials, travel, accommodation as well as a joint monthly tool and equipment budget.

Fairly regularly to complete these garden makeovers, there is a degree of working away from home. For example, you might work on a five-week rotation consisting of two weeks conducting one makeover, over two days, each week. This is predominantly over the Spring and Summer seasons. The remaining time is utilised to undertake site visits and plan for upcoming projects with a hybrid home/office balance. Garden makeovers are completed nationwide so long and frequent travel can be required, and to compensate for this we offer a flexible TOIL policy. Over the Winter months, the role is more office based, with review of risk assessments, and planning of Spring projects. Some project preparation may be required at our store in Innsworth.

You will be able to:

• Demonstrate professional/practical DIY skills including hard landscaping to very tight deadlines
• Provide Inspiration, tutoring and leadership to the groups of volunteers to empower them in using new skills.
• Confidently build relationships quickly in order to communicate effectively, appropriately and clearly with a wide range of people.
• Prioritise own workload and meet tight deadlines, often having to be adaptable and think on your feet in order to make makeovers a success and completed on time.
• Be empathetic and sensitive to a wide range of needs and experiences.
• Develop and implement new, creative, ideas in order to deliver the best outcomes for the makeovers and our families.
• Demonstrate resilience, adaptability and the ability to balance a fast-paced workload with clear forward planning and an eye for detail.

You will have:

• A passion for helping others.
• A desire and commitment to build and deliver the very best results for our beneficiaries.
• Strong communication and organisational skills
• Effectively prioritise and work calmly under pressure
• A good understanding of budgets and competent Microsoft Office user
• A full UK driving license, able to drive a van.

For the full role details please see enclosed advert and Job description documents and contact details for an infomal chat about the role - We will be reviewing applications as they come in for this role and may close it early should we receive sufficient applications.