I suspect that many charities have a list of volunteers and are grateful for the time they put in for them. There are many who devote considerable time to such activity and apart from the occasional ‘thank you’ the only reward is the feeling of helping others or the environment by their input.

But all charities have what might almost be called ‘phantom’ volunteers, people who are on lists but are seldom or even never seen and seem unable to fulfil any tasks. They gradually drop down lists and almost get forgotten.

But the other day I heard another explanation and that was that there were people who simply ‘volunteered’ for a charity simply to put it on their cv. I have no way of knowing if this is true – it was certainly told to me as an established fact. They have no intention of actually doing anything but showing the charity’s name on their cv demonstrates their commitment to society at large.

I would be interested to hear of any comments where people know that this is the case (or not).