Celebrating our 2022 success with our Young Volunteers
At the end of last year on Saturday 10th December we welcomed our young volunteers and youth workers to Tiverton youth centre to celebrate their incredible volunteering efforts. It was a shaky start and nearly didn't happen due to snow and ice but we went ahead without a hitch in the end! This was a great opportunity to celebrate the success of 2022 and take stock of all the incredible work that had been done.
We have roughly 50 young volunteers that work with us. Our young volunteers help us in so many ways including leading activities, coming up with creative projects, and helping other young people. Having young volunteers in youth centres is great because they are a similar age to the young people attending meaning they quickly become a trusted face that other young people want to talk to and ask for advice.
Two special awards for 'Outstanding Young Volunteer' were awarded - one to a young person from Bideford and the other to a young person in Totnes.. A huge well done to both.
Huge thanks to Andy (Senior Youth Support Worker in Charge), Alison (Senior Youth Support Worker) and the group of young people from Bideford for producing proper tasty AND sustainable food which went down a treat. Rich (Senior Youth Support Worker in Charge) provided the fun with a vinyl cutting activity which young people loved and went away with lasting momentos!
Young people from Tiverton who have just completed their Inspire22 project gave a talk on their project supported by Faith (Apprentice Youth Worker)- inspiring stuff. Inspire 2022 is a project funded by UK Youth in partnership with British Red Cross, Youth Action Northern Ireland, Youth Cymru, Youth Scotland and regional youth organisations who support young people in their local communities. The group of young people aged 11-17 from Tiverton Youth Centre revamped the Ashdowne care home garden, taking great care to pick flowers with strong smells, textures and lots of colour for all the residents to enjoy.
To finish the event Kev Henmen, our CEO, showed his gratitude with an inspiring speech which left our young volunteers feeling valued and motivated to continue in their roles. Young volunteers who were there have said that they felt connected with other volunteers and are going to stay in touch. One volunteer couldn't believe how emotional it made them feel and told us.
This is going to be an annual event and we can't wait to make it bigger and better in 2023 to show our appreciation and support to our young volunteers and youth workers - thank you for all you do!
