The Fastest Way to Make Friends in a New City
There's a piece of advice that gets repeated so often it's become background noise: "Just volunteer!" People say it to newcomers, to lonely people, to anyone who mentions they'd like to meet more people. And the reason they keep saying it is because it works.
Volunteering puts you alongside other people, doing something that matters, on a regular basis. You don't need to make small talk about the weather. You don't need to think of interesting things to say. You just do the work, side by side, and the connection happens naturally. Research consistently finds that volunteers report better mental health and wellbeing than non-volunteers, and are significantly less likely to say they feel lonely.
But here's the thing nobody tells you: getting started is the hard part. Where do you actually sign up? How much time do you need to commit? What will you actually do? Will it be awkward turning up on your own?
This guide answers all of those questions for Exeter specifically. Whether you've got a Saturday morning free every week or just a few hours once a month, there's something here for you.
Where to Find Volunteer Opportunities
CoLab Exeter
If you're not sure where to start, CoLab Exeter is a good first port of call. Based at Wat Tyler House on King William Street, CoLab is a place-based charity supporting people with complex needs. It is a multi-agency hub bringing several charities and services together in one building, and a good place to ask what's going on locally.
Visit colabexeter.org.uk or call 01392 202055 to have a conversation about what's available.
Devon Connect
Devon Connect is an online platform that helps you find volunteering opportunities in your neighbourhood. You can sign up, set your location and interests, and browse current opportunities across Exeter and the wider county. It's worth checking regularly, as new opportunities are posted frequently.
Search for Devon Connect and browse the volunteering listings from its own navigation.
Don't overthink the first step. Most organisations are genuinely delighted to hear from potential volunteers. Send an email, fill in a form, make a phone call — whichever feels easiest. The worst that can happen is they don't have a role right now and put you on a waiting list.
Active and Outdoor Volunteering
Parkrun Exeter — Every Saturday Morning
If you want the easiest possible entry point into volunteering, parkrun is it. Exeter Riverside parkrun takes place every Saturday at 9am at Exeter Quay and River Valley Park, and they always need volunteers. No regular commitment required — you can volunteer as often or as rarely as you like.
Volunteer roles include timekeeping, marshalling, barcode scanning, and tail walking. You don't need to be a runner. You don't even need to be particularly fit. You just need to turn up, wear a high-vis vest, and be friendly. It takes about an hour of your Saturday morning, and you'll be publicly thanked in the weekly results email.
The social side is genuine. Parkrun has a strong community culture, and many people find that volunteering regularly leads to friendships that extend well beyond Saturday mornings. There's usually a coffee run afterwards too.
How to sign up: Email [email protected] or register at parkrun.org.uk/exeterriverside/volunteer.
National Trust — Killerton
Killerton is a stunning National Trust estate about seven miles north of Exeter, with a large and long-established volunteer team. Whether you're interested in conservation work on the estate, looking after the historic house, welcoming visitors, helping with administrative tasks, or joining one-off tree-planting days, there's a role for you.
The estate works closely with local schools and universities, and they welcome Duke of Edinburgh Award participants. The Exeter National Trust Volunteer Group meets regularly for practical outdoor work — gardening, footpath construction, hedge laying, apple picking, and woodland management. All abilities are welcome, though a reasonable level of fitness helps for the outdoor work.
How to sign up: Visit nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/devon/killerton/volunteering-at-killerton or email the property directly.
National Trust — Knightshayes
Further afield near Tiverton, Knightshayes offers volunteering roles from room guides and facilities maintenance to the Garden-in-the-Wood restoration project and kitchen gardening. The volunteering team includes people of all ages and abilities. It's a particularly good fit if you love gardens, history, or just being outdoors in a beautiful setting.
How to sign up: Email [email protected] or call 01884 254665.
Devon Wildlife Trust
Devon Wildlife Trust runs practical conservation volunteering at Exeter Valley Parks — including Mincinglake, Ludwell, and Riverside — with tasks like cutting back bracken, hedge laying, and habitat management. They also have opportunities at their Cricklepit Mill Wildlife Garden on Commercial Road in Exeter.
They also run groups for younger volunteers — ask what is currently open when you email, as the programme changes through the year.
How to sign up: Email [email protected] or visit devonwildlifetrust.org/volunteering-opportunities.
Outdoor volunteering is especially good for mental health. The combination of physical activity, being in nature, and working alongside others hits almost every factor that research links to improved wellbeing. If you're feeling stuck or low, this is a genuinely good place to start.
Food and Community Volunteering
Exeter Foodbank
Exeter Foodbank provides emergency food parcels to people in crisis. They occasionally need volunteers for their teams, though they're careful not to take on too many people at once to ensure everyone gets a meaningful experience. When volunteer positions aren't available directly, you can still help by organising food collections at your workplace, donating food at the supermarket collection points listed on their Donate Food page, or spreading the word on social media.
How to get involved: See exeterfoodbank.co.uk/volunteer, call 07818 226524 or email [email protected] — current openings are advertised on their Facebook page.
Exeter Food Action
Exeter Food Action rescues surplus food and redistributes it to community groups. They have over fifty volunteers working alongside a small staff team, and they're regularly looking for more. Volunteering might involve collecting food from shops, sorting donations, or helping with distribution.
How to sign up: Complete the volunteer application form at exeterfoodaction.org.uk/how-to-help.
FoodCycle Exeter
FoodCycle runs free Community Meals where volunteers cook and serve hot, nutritious food to anyone who wants to come. It's designed to tackle food poverty and loneliness simultaneously, and it's one of the most sociable volunteering experiences you can have. They need cooks, hosts, and food collection volunteers.
How to sign up: Visit foodcycle.org.uk/location/foodcycle-exeter.
Arts and Culture Volunteering
Exeter Phoenix
Exeter Phoenix is the city's independent arts centre, and they use volunteer stewards to help run events, films, and gallery exhibitions. As a volunteer, you'll help with everything from taking tickets to invigilating galleries, and you'll receive a 20% discount on hot drinks and food (even when you're not on shift), plus invitations to gallery openings and special events, and complimentary tickets.
Many current staff members started out as volunteer stewards, so it's a genuine pathway into arts work if that interests you. You'll need to be eighteen or over. Recruitment runs in batches and is currently paused — the programme is full — so the move is to email the volunteering team and ask to be told when it reopens.
How to sign up: Visit exeterphoenix.org.uk/support-us/volunteer to express interest.
RAMM — Royal Albert Memorial Museum
The Royal Albert Memorial Museum also has volunteering opportunities, though these tend to be more specialised and less frequently available. Keep an eye on rammuseum.org.uk/get-involved/volunteering for current openings.
Health and Care Volunteering
Royal Devon University Healthcare (the RD&E)
Volunteering at the RD&E is one of the most directly impactful things you can do. Volunteers are a core part of the hospital, and roles include Meet and Greet volunteers (welcoming patients and directing them around the hospital) and ward support volunteers (providing non-medical assistance to patients and staff).
The hospital provides training and a named point of contact throughout your time with them, and asks for a regular weekly slot rather than ad-hoc help. Applications open in cohorts rather than continuously, so check their website for the next intake.
How to sign up: Email [email protected] or visit royaldevon.nhs.uk/patients-visitors/volunteering.
Charity Shop Volunteering
Devon Air Ambulance
If you'd prefer something with a bit more flexibility, Devon Air Ambulance runs more than twenty charity shops across Devon — including two in Exeter, on Cowick Street and in Heavitree — and is often looking for retail volunteers, with flexible options that don't need a fixed rota. They also have a young volunteers programme for under-eighteens, which is useful for Duke of Edinburgh participants.
How to sign up: Visit daat.org/support-us/volunteer-with-us to find shops near you and apply.
Community Gardening
Exeter Community Garden
The Exeter Community Garden was originally established by University of Exeter students and community members. The garden is open on Wednesdays from 3pm to 5pm and welcomes anyone who wants to get involved — no experience needed.
Refugee Support Devon Allotment
Refugee Support Devon runs a community allotment near the city centre where volunteers and clients garden together — a beautiful way to combine practical outdoor work with genuine cross-cultural connection. RSD currently has enough volunteers and is not recruiting, but the volunteering page is worth re-checking, as roles are advertised there when they open.
How to sign up: Visit refugeesupportdevon.org.uk/volunteering for details.
Community gardening is a brilliant option if you find traditional social settings overwhelming. There's no pressure to talk constantly — you can work quietly side by side, and conversation happens naturally around the task. For more on why this kind of low-key connection matters, read our piece on turning worry into community.
What to Expect When You Start
If you've never volunteered before, here's what typically happens:
The first contact. You send an email or fill in a form. Most organisations will reply within a few days. Some will invite you for an informal chat. Others will send you information about available roles and ask you to choose.
The induction. Almost all organisations provide some form of training. For the National Trust, this might include health and safety briefings and guided tours. For the RD&E, it includes safeguarding training. For Devon Air Ambulance shops, it covers till training and customer service. You won't be thrown in at the deep end.
The time commitment. This varies enormously. Parkrun asks for an hour on a Saturday. Hospital volunteering asks for a regular weekly slot. National Trust roles can be regular or ad hoc. Charity shops often let you choose your own hours. Be honest about what you can manage — it's far better to commit to two hours a week and show up reliably than to promise ten hours and burn out.
The social side. This is the bit that surprises people. You will meet people. You will have conversations. You will, if you keep showing up, develop friendships. Shared purpose is one of the most powerful foundations for connection. You're not just making small talk — you're working towards something together, and that creates a bond that goes deeper than casual socialising.
Volunteering and Your Wellbeing
Volunteering is consistently associated with better mental wellbeing at every stage of life. Volunteers report greater confidence socialising, improved mental health, and reduced loneliness compared to non-volunteers. And those benefits aren't just for people with lots of spare time — even a few hours a month makes a measurable difference.
There's also something powerful about stepping outside your own life for a while. When you're sorting food at Exeter Food Action or welcoming visitors at Killerton, you're not thinking about your inbox or your worries. You're present, useful, and part of something bigger. In a world that constantly asks you to scroll rather than connect, that's worth more than you might think.
More Places to Look
The volunteering landscape in Exeter continues to expand, and a few more routes are worth knowing about.
Age UK Exeter is actively recruiting Volunteer Visitors to offer companionship to older people, especially those living alone. The commitment is typically around an hour each week for a regular social home visit — a simple but profoundly meaningful way to make a difference. If you have been thinking about volunteering but worry about the time commitment, this is one of the most manageable options available.
The Devon and Exeter Institution — a beautifully restored 19th-century building in Cathedral Close — is looking for Front of House Volunteers and Tour Guides. It is a wonderful option for anyone interested in heritage and culture, and the Institution itself is one of Exeter's hidden gems.
Exeter City Community Trust runs a "Happy to Help" programme that encompasses a wide range of projects in the local community, from planting vegetable gardens and renovating ponds to painting murals and fences. It is hands-on, varied, and the kind of volunteering where you can see the results of your work immediately.
For a comprehensive, up-to-date listing of what is currently available, Restless keeps a regularly updated list of volunteering opportunities in Exeter, and Devon Connect adds new roles across the county. Our Exeter charities and community groups guide covers the broader landscape of how to get involved in the city's community life, and the social clubs guide includes organisations where volunteering and socialising naturally overlap.
Start This Week
Here's a challenge: pick one organisation from this guide and reach out before the end of the week. Send an email. Fill in a form. Make a phone call. That's all it takes to start.
One honest caveat. Volunteering places are not always open. Exeter Phoenix and Refugee Support Devon both currently say they have enough volunteers, and Exeter Foodbank deliberately rations intake so that everyone gets a meaningful role. That is not a rejection — it's a queue. If the first door is closed, ask to be told when it reopens and try the next one on the list. Parkrun, FoodCycle, Exeter Food Action and Exeter City Community Trust are the most reliably open routes here.
And if you're looking for other ways to meet people and build connections in Exeter, our dinners bring small groups of strangers together over shared meals at some of the city's best restaurants. It's a different kind of showing up, but the principle is the same — good things happen when you say yes.