North East regional winners
Congratulations to the following North East regional award winners!
Best new volunteer
Matthew Wright
Matthew started volunteering after moving to a YMCA hostel in April 2011. He started with the YMCA Options Programme initially because he was ‘bored’ but has since become an enthusiastic community volunteer.
He works on several projects, including assisting in a charity shop and with local elderly people - but it is his work with a mobile skate park project which he truly loves. He takes the park out around the community and supervises young people using it. Matthew feels that volunteering has given him a new confidence and outlook on life, that he could not otherwise have achieved otherwise.
Overall commitment to volunteering
Lydia Burnside-Hughes
Lydia is a passionate volunteer, involved in many different projects and raising funds for a variety of charities and good causes. She is committed to her volunteering and feels it has helped her overcome the tragedy of losing her Grandmother.
Lydia is a Volunteer Northumbria Ambassador for volunteering with older people, where she leads a team of volunteers to provide projects in the local area. She has also acted as a Team Leader for Northumbria Students Union, Raise and Give (RAG), collecting donations for charities. Also through RAG, she has organised a sponsored head-shave for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, where she raised £1,500.
Youth worker
James Mc Naughton
James set up ‘Homelessness and the Arts’ 18 months ago when he was still living in a homelessness hostel. Since then he has inspired 20 young people to start volunteering to run innovative arts projects with homeless people across the country. James’ passion for changing the attitude of people towards homelessness is a constant inspiration to his team of volunteers - as is his immense positivity and generosity.
National Citizen Service (NCS)
NCS North East Summer of a lifetime
This NCS Summer of a Lifetime team in Gateshead chose to carry out their social action project at a local community garden after spending the day there and seeing the impact it had on the community.
They raised funds to buy equipment and carried out extensive renovation work to make the space a special place for the whole community. They worked together to raise money for new materials and equipment and went above and beyond the time required to do the work on the garden - creating new raised beds for disabled users, and clearing a new area for flower beds.
About NCS:
NCS aims to promote a more cohesive, responsible and engaged society by bringing young people from different backgrounds together to make a difference in their communities. It is a voluntary programme for 16-year-olds which focuses on their personal and social development. It includes challenging activities, from away-from-home residential experiences to a self-designed social action project.
Team
Street Games
The Street Games North Tyneside team has made an enormous difference to their area by creating football sessions to combat drinking and community disturbance among a large group of 60 young people.
The sessions have eradicated the problem of large groups hanging around and drinking in the streets by giving local young people something positive to look forward to every Friday. The team has made real reductions in the amount of anti-social behaviour in North Tyneside.
Bringing communities together
Ryan Houston
Ryan, 18, from South Shields, first applied for a voluntary post at a radio station when he was fifteen. The radio station was a LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) format. He is now a volunteer presenter with Pride Radio in Newcastle. This proved to be somewhat of a vocation for Ryan and led him into further voluntary work. He is a keen fundraiser and has in the past volunteered at fundraising events for various causes.