A FORMER drug addict wants to help others get into volunteering.

Ibrahim Hassanali, a former member of the Yorkshire Regiment and an avid volunteer in the Boscombe community, wants to help others get into volunteer work for Volunteering Week.

He said: “Volunteering is something I’ll always support and I want to actively encourage people to get involved.

“No matter what you do as a volunteer, every little thing you do is important. You are an important member of a team.”

Ibrahim, who volunteers at Naomi’s House and Jacksplace, has won four awards for his services, and has also attended Parliament for cross party discussions about homelessness.

He was a drug addict for eight years, and served a two-and-a-half year prison sentence from November 2009 to May 2012.

“My life hasn’t been perfect, I’m honest about that,” he said. “But if I can do one little positive thing a day, I’ve done something good with my day.”

But he says that he is not alone. In Boscombe, there are several former addicts striving to give back to the community, having once been addicts or on the road to recovery.

“In Boscombe, there are around 11 charity shops and most of them are manned by former addicts. We want to give back to the community and it helps to give us our lives back.”