Christmas is a magical time of year, where you kick back and relax with the family. At least it should be. Not everyone can enjoy that luxury. But you can help. Here are some of the places you can volunteer at Christmas in London.
Crisis at Christmas volunteering
The biggest volunteering operation across the nation every Christmas takes place in Crisis's day centres and rough sleeper centres, and it's been running for more than 50 years. Crisis at Christmas has an abundance of ways you can help make someone else's yuletide that extra bit special across hotels (this year in Docklands and Aldgate), day centres (Paddington, Pimlico and Stratford) and call centres. In 2025, Crisis will also pioneer a new women-led centre in east London.
Crisis has many volunteer roles — from drivers to hairdressers — but the key roles involve:
🙂 Welcoming and supporting guests – greetings, conversations, puzzles and games
🙂 Serving food and drinks
🙂 Helping with activities and services – arts, sports, salon or healthcare appointments
🙂 Keeping spaces safe and tidy
Applications are now open. See also Crisis's ideas for fundraising, ahead of Christmas.
Christmas volunteering with St Mungo's
Homelessness charity St Mungo's recruits volunteers to shake a collection bucket at train stations at Christmas — and spread festive cheer as you do so. We'll add the link when sign-ups open.
Various shifts are usually available at different London stations (Waterloo, Paddington, Euston, King's Cross, Victoria, London Bridge, Charing Cross) on set days in mid-December.
Simply Volunteer Christmas volunteering
Simply Volunteer is the ultimate search tool for volunteering opportunities. These aren't necessarily Christmas related — the service runs all year-round — but type the keyword 'Christmas' into the search engine if you want your volunteering to be festive flavoured. You can also search by other interests, for example, if you want to volunteer with the elderly, or help the homeless.
Festive volunteering roles in previous years have included Christmas bucket collections, and volunteering at charity Christmas concerts and fundraising fairs.
Volunteer with The London Basket Brigade
The Basket Brigade put food on the tables of families in need on Christmas Day. Up to 1,500 baskets are delivered on 23 December, and this requires hundreds of volunteers — both to put the baskets together, and to drive and deliver them. The base for this year remains Woodside High School near Wood Green. They also need help raising the funds to provide the baskets. Registration is now open for 2025 volunteering.
Shelter from the Storm
This homeless shelter in Islington is open all year round, and is completely free for those who need it. As with all shelters, demand is higher in the winter, and people are needed for shifts. Tasks include cleaning, cooking, serving food and talking to guests on evening, overnight and breakfast shifts. Find out more here — they're particularly in need of overnight volunteers this winter.
Hackney Winter Night Shelter volunteers
Open from November to March each year, Hackney Winter Night Shelter provides a bed for the night and a hot meal for people who would otherwise be sleeping on the streets, and it needs volunteers throughout the season. Tasks include cooking and serving meals, doing laundry, getting to know the people staying there, and staying overnight to make sure everything runs smoothly. Find out more and volunteer.
Volunteer at London winter night shelters
Aside from the shelters mentioned above, plenty of others operate in London and are equally worthy of help. Sleeping rough on the streets of London in winter is a horrible experience, and shelters try to alleviate these issues, and give people a warm place to sleep for the night.
There are plenty of winter night shelters across London — why not contact your nearest one and see if it needs volunteers this year.
Rotary Club Christmas Day volunteering
Rotary Club holds a massive Christmas Day lunch and tea party for over-65s living in Wandsworth. The shindig takes place in Battersea Park, with around 400 elderly people who would otherwise be alone taking part each year.
Volunteers are usually needed for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. You can do just one, two, or all three days. Jobs include preparing the venue, helping with transport for the guests, serving food and clearing up afterwards. Applications to volunteer for Christmas 2025 are now open.
Volunteer at The Whitechapel Mission
Homeless shelter The Whitechapel Mission receives as many as 300 visitors a day during December, and it needs a willing group of volunteers to provide for all these guests. You'll be giving not only warm food, but a touch of warmth to the lives of those less fortunate — truly in the spirit of the Christmas holiday. They need extra help at Christmas to sort the donations received, but note that volunteering opportunities here are strictly for teams rather than individuals.
Salvation Army Christmas volunteering
Salvation Army churches are busy at Christmas, running the annual Christmas Present Appeal as well as hosting night shelters. You may be needed to sort through donated toys and gifts, serve festive meals or help out in other ways at night shelters. The website lays out the various roles available for volunteering at Christmas 2025.
WrapUp London
Got an old spare winter coat kicking around? WrapUp London would love to have it to reassign to someone who needs it, including homeless people, refugees, and families in emergency accommodation. Drop off points are open across London from 3 November-7 December 2025.
Charity collections
Plenty of charities hold collections in the run-up to Christmas, when the general public is high on goodwill. Keep an eye on charities close to your heart for ways to get involved.
