Meet Rory: the teenager volunteering in his local community

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Published: 9/28/2026
Categories: Community

How volunteering at the Round About Café has helped 17-year-old Rory build confidence, gain experience and take the next step towards employment.

For 17-year-old Rory, volunteering at the Round About Café, a community café run by housing association Abri, has become part of his weekly routine. Living just around the corner from the café, he first began working there through his Year 10 work experience. Then, after completing his GCSE’s a year later, he chose to come back and began volunteering every Friday.

Rory at the till

“I first started volunteering at the Round About Café to get out the house and add some work experience to my CV. But working here has also helped me to build up my confidence - I now find things like speaking to and serving customers much easier than I did when I first started.”

Rory - Round About Café volunteer

At a time when so many young people are finding it hard to access work, training and experience, volunteering can offer an important step into confidence, skills and future opportunities. Recent House of Commons Library figures show youth unemployment has risen to 16.2%, while more than one million people aged 16 to 24 are not in education, employment or training.

With just over a year of experience volunteering at the Round About Café, Rory now has one eye on the future and how he can use the skills and confidence he’s gained to get a part-time job so he can start earning his own money.

Rory said: “Now that I have a good amount of experience working at a café, serving customers and making teas and coffee’s, I’ve started to apply for part-time jobs at some of the cafés in town so I can begin making my own money.”

Rory’s favourite job at the café is using the coffee machine to make hot drinks for the variety of customers the Round About Café welcomes. But he isn’t a big fan of coffee, his go to order instead is a hot chocolate and a fresh sausage roll.

Rory making a coffee

The Round About Café provides a friendly, welcoming space where visitors can go to enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and some excellent food. It also acts as a local hub for the area, supporting a community pantry and providing volunteering, skill-building and community opportunities for local people.

Nigel Powney, Café Supervisor at the Round About Café, said: “Rory has been a big help at the café and has proved himself to be a valuable part of the team. He picked up on how to serve customers and make tea and coffee really quickly- it’s been great to see his confidence improve in the year since he began.

“The Round About Café is all about community and we’re always looking to build up the people who come here. These local volunteering opportunities can be a great way into finding employment, so it’s fantastic to see Rory taking advantage of that.”

Rory’s story shows how volunteering can help young people gain real-world experience, build confidence and play an active role in their community, while opening the door to what comes next.

Volunteering can be a great way to gain experience, build confidence, learn new skills, support your community and explore future career opportunities.

Learn more about volunteering opportunities at the Round About Café

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