West Midlands regional winners
Congratulations to the following West Midlands regional award winners!
Best new volunteer
Chris Taylor
Chris has been working with primary school children as a reading volunteer at a Newcastle-Under-Lyme primary school every week since April this year. He started volunteering after falling ill with a heart condition, which made him realise he wanted to give something back to his community.
In the short time he has worked with the children, some with problems with communication or attainment, he has already made a huge impact on their development. Chris is passionate about being a positive role model for the children and helping them to achieve their best.
Overall commitment to volunteering
Yael Collins
Yael had a very difficult time at school with both physical and racial bullying. Things got so bad that it made her very unwell. At aged 14, volunteering proved an escape for Yael, which soon turned into a passion - and she's never looked back. Since then she has volunteered with a local nursery, as a volunteer youth leader with the Jewish Lads and Girls Brigade, with Manchester Prison Visitors Centre and Radio Lollipop at Manchester Children’s Hospital. Yael has also volunteered overseas and is currently organising the Christmas present drop.
Youth worker
Jenny Gartland
Jenny has been volunteering with the Scouts for 13 years. A dedicated leader, Jenny fits in several hours a week of volunteering on top of working 60 hours a week as a care assistant at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
Jenny was shy and bullied as a teen, but feels that volunteering with the Scouts has given her a whole new outlook on life. Jenny supports a group of Explorer Scouts, as well as managing an outdoor activity centre where groups of young people go on trips every six weeks.
Team Award
The MOB
The MOB provides street dance projects for young people in the West Midlands. For the past 18 months, their core team has been working towards creating dance and music flashmobs to highlight volunteering at the 2012 games.
Each of the core team members has been responsible for leading their own team of volunteers to produce a piece of street performances, to be ‘mobbed’ across Birmingham. The activity was designed and managed by the young people, who put in 500 hours of voluntary work to make it happen.
Bringing communities together
Thomas Wragg
Thomas has been a passionate campaigner to stop EU governments buying oil from tar sands. Following an exchange programme to Canada run by the charity People and Planet, Tom has forged a strong relationship between his university in Birmingham and the campaigning community in Alberta Canada.
By bringing the two communities together, Tom has been able to raise thousands of pounds for the campaign, as well as awareness among his fellow students.