Why volunteer

We are always welcoming of people who wish to join L'Arche Kent as either volunteers or friends. We want to see our societies transformed by people with and without learning disabilities modelling a different way of being in the world, in relationship with one another.

There are lots of ways that you can get involved, including:

Providing support on a regular basis (e.g. driving, cooking, helping to organise community events, accompanying somebody to church/their place of worship, assisting in - or leading - one of our daytime activities);
Becoming a friend to a person with a learning disability (this usually starts by joining us for a shared meal, coming along to one of our pilgrimages, or attending a community gathering);
Becoming an advocate for a core member (supporting them to represent themselves in meetings with the Community, Social Services etc).

View our current volunteering vacancies to see how you can specifically support us.

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Ismayil's story

‘I think L’Arche is one of those places where you can change the world, and changing the world starts with changing yourself.’
Henri Nouwen

In the summer of 1985 Henri Nouwen left his role as a professor at Harvard Divinity School and joined the L’Arche community in Trosly-Brueil, France. Henri spent nine months living and sharing in life with people with and without learning disabilities. At the end of this period of discernment, Henri joined the L’Arche Daybreak community in Canada to serve as their pastor, where he lived until his death in 1996.
Thérèse Vanier

Thérèse Vanier established the first L’Arche community in the UK, in Canterbury, in 1974. In the 1960s she became the first female consultant at St Thomas’ hospital in London. She was a pioneer in palliative care, working with Cicely Saunders at St Christopher’s Hospital in London. Colleagues agree that it was Thérèse who did more than anyone else to bring the principles and practice of palliative medicine to a wider francophone world.