The Campus Charity Takeover begins
Source: UCL Volunteering
George Glover gives the rundown on UCL Volunteering, and speaks to students about their own experiences.
Today and tomorrow, the Campus Charity Takeover assembles in UCL’s Wilkins South Cloisters as over 100 representatives from the charity sector showcase their organisations. On each day, the fair takes place from 12pm to 3pm, and full catalogues of stallholders for the two days can be found on the Students’ Union website.
Stalls will be arranged alphabetically, but UCL students will have the opportunity to start their volunteering journey across a number of sectors, including charities working to improve mental health and support the LGBT+ community. Today’s attendees include the listening service London Nightline, the Kings Cross-based Women@thewell and LGBT+ organisation Just Like Us. Tomorrow’s event will feature Brightside, The Literacy Pirates and Refuge, amongst many others.
Source: UCL Volunteering
Several more specific fairs will be held across the rest of October, with this week’s event serving as a more general introduction to volunteering at UCL. On Thursday 10th October, the Tutoring and Mentoring Fair will put potential teachers, youth workers and mentors in touch with relevant organisations. Following this, the Mental Health and Befriending Fair will open on Tuesday 15th October. Later this month, UCL students will also have the opportunity to attend separate volunteering fairs targeted towards Health and Medicine and Museums and Heritage.
As well as the in-person fairs running this week, UCL Volunteering will be utilising Facebook and Instagram to run ‘virtual fairs’.
Source: UCL Volunteering
Experiences from the Pi Media Team
“"As an ambassador, I visit schools around London and deliver talks about my own LGBT experience – so I’ve grown a lot more confident in my public speaking abilities. It’s an amazing initiative that helps young people deal with struggles they may have with their identity, as well as advocating for acceptance.” - Rhianna Betts, Senior Ambassador at Just Like Us
“Volunteering at Safe Passage is an amazing opportunity to put empathy into action, and to contribute towards the effort to reunite young refugees with family in the UK. I’ve learnt a lot in a short period of time, and the team is incredibly friendly. It’s my favourite part of the week.” - Georgina Bartlett, Digital Communications Volunteer at Safe Passage UK
“Each week we go out on council estates around London with rucksacks full of books to lend to children aged 0-12. Not only is it lovely sharing stories, and watching as the kids learn how to read for themselves, it’s also loads of fun working with a team of like-minded volunteers.” - Matilda Singer, Home Reading Volunteer at Doorstep Library
“SEED is a small, Zimbabwean charity that focus on sustainable development. I really enjoy writing and editing, so it’s been rewarding to be able to use those skills to raise awareness of the difficult circumstances facing men, women and children in southern Africa.” - George Glover, Newsletter Editor at SEED