Beki’s experience volunteering at Beacon!

Aug 30, 2024

This week’s blog is written by Beki Warner, who recently volunteered at Beacon!

Read more about Beki’s experience volunteering, the highlights and her advice for our future volunteers.

My name is Rebekah (Beki) Warner. I am entering my second year at Royal Holloway, University of London, studying for a BA in Politics and International Relations.

My passion is helping and supporting people through difficult times, and that is why I am grateful that I got the chance to volunteer for my summer placement at Beacon!

I am interested in international communication and aid, which is one of the reasons I wanted this placement. It’s about how we as a community can begin to share information and collaborate to benefit those around us.

How did you hear about Beacon?

I heard about Beacon from the Careers Department at my university. I was a part of the Summer Skills Placement Programme, in which we did courses on how to write CVs, cover letters and tips for interviews.

After this was all completed, we then had to begin looking for a placement, and this is where I came across Beacon.

Why did you choose to volunteer with Beacon?

I chose to volunteer with Beacon because my main aspiration in life is to help people, and while it may be in a different way, I researched Beacon and saw how much good they did for the community.

I knew after that, this was something I wanted to be a part of.

What has been the highlight of volunteering with us?

The highlight has been the ability to use my creativity and curiosity to support the community.

I was given the freedom to design the online guides, ‘Intersecting Identities: A Guide to Understanding Intersectionality’ and ‘How patient groups can harness the voices of underserved communities’ for Beacon’s Resources Hub in a way I thought would be helpful, as well as the opportunity to research something that I would not normally research.

This gave me real insight into what Beacon does and how they help and support people.

What have you learnt about rare diseases and rare disease patient groups?

I have learnt that only 5% of all 7,000 rare diseases have some form of treatment plan, and these can be extremely hard to access for some underserved communities.

I have also learnt about the amazing work that patient groups do to help bridge this gap and provide education and support for these communities.

While conducting research, I also found out that some of my family have rare diseases, which was something I was not expecting, but this also allowed me to steer them towards patient groups that could help support them and help them feel understood.

What advice would you give to someone considering volunteering with Beacon?

My advice to someone considering volunteering with Beacon is to come with passion and curiosity.

This is a hard-working environment, and it is imperative that you come with the passion and drive to make a difference and to support the community around you. This is a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time volunteering here.