TEEN VOLUNTEERS ARE CREDIT TO CITY
Teenagers across Sunderland have been praised after giving thousands of hours of their time to helping others.
The Wearside volunteers have been out in force as part of a National Citizen Service scheme across the city and have already dedicated more than 2,500 hours to supporting their local community.
They have already done social action projects, while also learning new skills and boosting their CVs and organisers say there is more on the way.
Today, their work was hailed as a ‘credit’ to the NCS, their local community and to the teenagers themselves.
The young st ersvolunteered before lockdown when they signed up to the NCS autumn programme, which is delivered locally by the Foundation of Light.
They soon began making a difference across Sunderland by raising awareness and funds for local charities and causes such as at Grace House where £300 was donated for their respite facility.
They also planted fruit trees for the residents to enjoy for years to come.
Elsewhere, a team collected donations for the Salvation Army and delivered food parcels around the city to help those who are struggling due to the pandemic.
Meanwhile, other groups helped renovate the gardens of the Young Asian Voices’ centre, as well as repainting Thompson Park and St Luke’s community centres.
At Gildacre Care Home, green-fingered youngsters planted flowers for the benefit of isolating residents.
Shahzana Aslam, Young Asian Voices’ Youth Employment and Development Officer, said: “I would like to say a big thank you to all of the young people and staff for helping renovate the gardens. An amazing group of young and hardworking people.”
One volunteer, 16, from Sunderland, was one of the teenagers who volunteered her time and she said: “Making a difference to the local community is something that has made me feel proud. “
She added: “I have grown in confidence and met some new friends along the way. I highly recommend getting involved with NCS on future social action projects.”
Next up, participants will also be lending a hand to helping the Foundation tackle food poverty, through the Give a Quid campaign.
Give a Quid will involve food parcels which will be distributed as part of the NCS’ local action group.
Craig Martin, the Foundation of Light’s NCS Manager, said: “The initiative shown by the youngsters has been a pleasure to watch and seeing them work through their social action projects, from setting and planning through to bringing it to life is great to see.
“The feedback we’ve had from organisations they have worked with has been great too.”
Craig added: “They have not only been a credit to NCS, the Foundation and the local community, but to themselves too .”
Across the country many more young people are making a difference in their local communities by doing NCS volunteer work.
Since NCS was founded, more than 600,000 young people have been on an NCS programme and they have contributed to 14.5 million hours of volunteering.
For more about NCS, visit www.wearencs.com