How Can We Help?
Answers for volunteers, organisers and anyone who asks for help, how to reach the Yarım Hurma coordinators, and how to delete your account.
Not an emergency service. In an emergency call 999. For urgent health advice call NHS 111.
Contact Us
Asking for Help
How do I ask for help?
Call or message us on WhatsApp, or fill in the short form. You never need an app. Someone can also ask on your behalf, such as a relative, a carer or a community group.
What happens after I ask?
A coordinator contacts you within as soon as they can to talk it through and agree a time. Before a home visit we tell you who is coming: their name, photo and Yarım Hurma volunteer ID.
Does it cost anything?
No. Help is always free. We never ask for donations, payments or bank details, and volunteers never handle your money. If anyone asks you for money in our name, it is not us: please tell us straight away.
How do I know the volunteer is genuine?
Ask to see their Yarım Hurma volunteer ID and check it matches the name and photo we gave you. If anything does not match, do not let them in and contact us.
Can I change or cancel a request?
Yes. Contact us by phone or WhatsApp and quote your reference (for example R-0007) if you have it.
For Organisers
Can I ask for volunteers for an event or activity?
Yes. Charities, schools, community groups and faith communities in Cambridge can tell us about a good cause that needs hands: a charity bazaar, a breakfast for students, a clean-up day, a children’s activity, Quran or homework classes. Use the short form or call us. A coordinator talks it through with you and posts the tasks for volunteers.
What do you ask of organisers?
Name a lead for the day, tell volunteers what to bring and where to go, and supervise any activity with children yourselves. Volunteers never handle money for you, and no money passes through Yarım Hurma.
For Volunteers
How do I join?
Open the volunteer web app and sign in with your phone number. Phone apps for iPhone and Android are coming soon. Add your area, skills and free times, then read and accept the community rules and the privacy notice.
I did not get my sign-in code
- Check that you typed your number correctly, starting with 07 or +44.
- Codes can take a minute to arrive. Each code works for 10 minutes; ask for a new one if it has expired.
- After 5 wrong tries the code is locked for your safety. Wait a few minutes and request a new one.
- If text messages still do not arrive, contact a coordinator by phone or WhatsApp.
Too many, or too few, task alerts?
In the app, open Profile and choose how many alerts you want per day (three at most) and your quiet hours. We never send more than three a day.
I can no longer do a task
Open the task in My tasks and withdraw as early as you can, so the next volunteer on the waiting list is told. It is always fine to say "Not this time".
Why can’t I see tasks inside people’s homes?
Tasks inside a home need an Enhanced DBS check and a reference. The check is free for volunteers. Add it under Profile › Checks and certificates and a coordinator will confirm it.
Delete Your Account
You can delete your Yarım Hurma volunteer account and its personal data at any time.
In the app
- Open the app (or the web app) and sign in.
- Tap Profile.
- Under Privacy and your data, tap Delete my account.
- Confirm. We ask again before anything is deleted, and you will be signed out.
Without the app
Contact us by phone on our number, WhatsApp (our number), or tell your coordinator, and say you want your account deleted. To protect you, we confirm the request with a code sent to the phone number on your account. We complete deletion within one month, usually much sooner.
What is deleted, and what is kept
- Deleted: your name, phone number, email, postcode, photo, languages, skills, availability, certificates and their photos, notification settings, devices and messages.
- Kept only without your identity: the tasks you did and the dates you earned, as anonymous totals for the organisers’ reports.
- Kept for a limited time: backups are overwritten within 30 days. Records that safeguarding law requires us to keep are held only as long as required.
People who asked for help can ask us to delete their record in the same ways. Otherwise those records are anonymised 24 months after our last contact. More detail is in the privacy notice.
Report a Concern
If someone is in immediate danger, call 999. If you are worried about anyone’s safety, a volunteer or a task, contact the coordinators the same day by phone or WhatsApp. Concerns are passed straight to the organisers’ safeguarding lead. If anyone asks for money in our name, please tell us: we never ask for money.
Accessibility
We want everyone to be able to use this website, including people who use a screen reader, a keyboard only, or larger text. The site is designed to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at level AA: it works on small screens, can be zoomed to 200%, keeps a clear focus outline, and respects your device’s "reduce motion" setting. It is available in English and Türkçe.
The request form needs JavaScript to send. If you cannot use it, ask by phone or WhatsApp, or ask someone to contact us for you. If something on the site does not work for you, please tell us and we will fix it or help another way.