If you think students spend all their spare time avoiding studying, going out with their mates and having a good time then you'd be right. Well our student bloggers do anyway. While they assure us they don't slack on the study, they've got a lot to answer for when it comes to enjoying themselves while volunteering.

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Tuesday Jul 06, 2010

End of the line...

I've finished my degree, and while on the plus side this means that I have actually completed something, it also means that I am no longer a 'student volunteer', and am now officially unemployed.

I should probably be using this final blog to enthuse over how volunteering has converted my CV from a withering runt to a protein guzzling body-fortress; landed me my dream graduate job; and solved various other niggling annoyances, such as intermittent back ache. I'm not going to do that, partly because it wouldn't be true.

Instead here are 5 things that made me laugh during the last 3 years:

1) My friend and co-host somehow getting then Business Minister Pat Mcfadden to agree to an on-air (and heated) discussion of agency workers' rights on Sheffield Live 93.2fm

2) Over 2 hours spent on very random changes to the volunteering committee's constitution: should SheffieldVolunteering be two words or one?

3) Introducing a guest on my radio show as 'a man', after forgetting his name entirely. (sorry to this man, whose name I have still forgotten)

4) Trying to stop laughing uncontrollably at numerous moments during every breakfast radio show I helped to present.

5) Refusing to correct a friend's notion that my name is Harris over the course of two years, only for it to come back to haunt me after being awarded a certificate by the Lord Mayor (for an event which my friend had organised) for one Harris Stevens.

Anyway, I can hear the jobcentreplus calling 'sign on, sign on' and perhaps I can stave it off no more!

H

 

Posted by Harry ( 9:38 PM )
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Friday May 14, 2010

As we students are inherently political.....

 

So, even if you were turned away from the polling station, frustrated, disenfranchised, and possibly discriminated against because of your status as a student instead of a 'local', it doesn't matter – a new government has been formed anyway.

A coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats is now in power, and while everyone is getting het up about the 'constitutional implications' of such a thing, I thought I'd look briefly at what it might mean for the voluntary sector.

Given the amount that the state relies upon the voluntary sector to deliver services as basic as legal advice (through places such as the CAB), it would be political suicide for any of the party leaders to declare themselves as anything but supportive of volunteering. This is all the more relevant as we are now being told that large public sector cuts are necessary to reign in the UK's public debt, and it may be up to the voluntary sector to provide services that will no longer be provided for by the state.

Below is a brief summary of the two parties manifesto pledges in relation to volunteering, and with the uncertainties of a coalition government it will be interesting to see how many promises each party will be able to keep.

           

In the Conservative's manifesto ('Invitation to join the government of Britain'), the emphasis is very much upon services that were previously provided by the state instead being provided by groups of individuals in their communities. It paints a picture of the 'Big Society': schools set up by groups of interested individuals, as well as community run libraries and public amenities. Cynically re-phrased by some as - 'run your own schools, we're not up to it'.

Furthermore, social enterprises, charities and voluntary groups are to play 'a leading role' in delivering public services, and they will be encouraged to enter bids for state funding. Their manifesto also promises that a Big Society Bank fund will be set up (from unclaimed bank assets) to support these organisations.

Finally a National Citizen Service scheme is pledged – which would encourage 16 year olds to volunteer in their local community.

While the Lib Dem's manifesto ('Change that works for you') is supportive of the voluntary sector, it is less specific in the measures that they would introduce. Instead things are phrased in more general terms: 'We believe that society is strengthened by communities coming together and engaging in voluntary activity'. However they do promise to reform the CRB scheme so that volunteers only need one record 'that is portable, rather than multiple checks for each activity'.

For more information, the people at Volunteering England have done a proper job of this, with a brief summary of the manifestos' volunteering aspects here; and also a more comprehensive version here.

 

Posted by Harry ( 10:07 AM )
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Friday May 07, 2010

A new start for Bookends...

Well, as I mentioned in my last post, I ventured off to China during the easter holidays on a study programme. This should have lasted 3 weeks, but oh yes you guessed it, a little volcanic eruption managed to extend my stay by 2 weeks! So sorry for the absence...

This of course meant that I had to delegate all my Torcher's organising to others while I was stranded in Shanghai - unfortunately I obviously delegated to the wrong people! I arrived back in Aberdeen on the day of the parade and found our float looking a little bare, at which point I marched off to Asda to buy random summery things (bubble machine and a paddling pool? Yes please!) and called some mates to help fill up the float as apparently only 4 other volunteers were showing up!

I was a little shocked at the lack of interest when before Easter everyone had seemed so enthusiastic, but on the night we still made a good go of it, dancing down the street to some ehhh "Hawaiian" inspired techno...which then hit Bassment Jaxx etc... well, my bucket was pretty heavy by the end despite emptying it twice so it can't have gone too badly! The parade as a whole is estimated to have raised over £10 000 for charity, thanks to the help of other 2000 students, and a huge and generous crowd lining the streets!

In other news, our new store is officially open! The space is about 3 times the size of our last shop, with extra space for tables, chairs and comfy sofas and beanbags, giving us a social and lively space, which will hopefully soon have all the cafe facilities we need! The store's shelves will be closed and locked in the evenings, as the space is also available to societies and students to rent out at night for events, allowing us to provide a further service to the students of Aberdeen - fantastic!

So far, we've had our hands pretty full with just attempting to shelves all the books and decorate the store, but now that it's all finished, we're hoping to see a surge in customers, which can only be good for the Charities Campaign...

Well that's the plan, I'll get back to you with how it goes... Fi.

Posted by Fiona ( 5:00 PM )
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Tuesday Apr 06, 2010

Volunteering Committee Business

Hello again. It’s not something I’ve written about a great deal here, but when I applied to contribute to the student’s blog for do-it.org.uk, someone suggested that I join the Volunteering Committee at my University. I welcomed the fact that I now had an excuse to do something I’d quite like to get involved with anyway, and sent an e-mail off asking if they had any vacant positions left on the committee.

I thought I was being early, but I had already missed their AGM. Happily though they got back to me and said that they still had some positions that had not been filled, and so I joined the committee at the start of the academic year as a ‘publicity rep’.

That was 18 months ago now, and I was allowed (or elected) to stay on with the committee for this academic year too, although I have changed roles now to a ‘just do it’ co-ordinator (see a previous blog post for what this means).

I didn’t think I was a committee person, but in retrospect I have no idea what I thought a ‘committee person’ was. Maybe someone with spectacles and a diary? In any case, aside from the more specific roles every member has, just being in a working committee has been very interesting. Meetings have gone from discussing the colour of our hoodies (blue) and slogan (still in discussion), to getting more people involved in volunteering whilst at University and whether anyone would like to meet the High Sheriff of South Yorkshire.

I didn’t know there had been a High Sheriff post Robin Hood era, but coincidentally a 78 year old volunteer has just received the High Sheriff’s Award, for her work with a homeless centre in Sheffield.

Anyway, the nub of what I am trying to express is that it has been a well enjoyable experience and I’d recommend it. Also, by a surreal twist of fate, I’ve even become a bespectacled diary owner. !

Posted by Harry ( 11:34 PM )
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Tuesday Mar 23, 2010

Aloha Aberdeen?

Well, after much deliberation and rather odd ideas involving the royal family, Pacman and bumblebees, myself and the other volunteers on our official Torchers Team 2010 have decided to go for a Hawaiian themed float for the Torcher Parade on May 1st. With Aberdeen weather, this is a lot braver than it sounds - but we decided a Hawaiian float could remind people it's the start of summer, even if we do risk Hypothermia on the day...

The paperwork is not quite through, but should be by the end of the week which will hopefully see us entered into the procession on our own little float!

Also, the Big Move to our new location is officially on, with all the books being packed up this Friday, and all the volunteers available in Aberdeen over the 3 week Spring break helping to move everything over for the Grand Opening on April 19th! Unfortunately, I am not available over the holidays as I'm actually off to China on a study programme instead. However, I will most definitely be back on April 19th to help the other Bookends volunteers in promoting the new store and raising awareness about our new location, along with the other Student Association Services. Hopefully the new store will help to rejuvenate the bookshop's image around campus, as a nicer and larger space where students are also able to relax and have a nice cuppa!

With these important details on recent progress out of the way, I'd also like to mention I've already achieved the first of my MV awards for 50 hours of voluntary work this semester! Hopefully I'll achieve the next one before the summer holidays...

Anyway, I will return in a month to spill the beans on our new store, and hopefully with further news of Torcher's, and some marketing ploys! Fi.

Posted by Fiona ( 12:50 AM )
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Saturday Mar 06, 2010

Actual work detail... Important?

Well, it's been a slow week at the shop, so I thought I should maybe take this opportunity to explain what I actually get up to in the bookshop on a regular shift - perhaps an important detail?

During each shift, there will be between 1 and 3 volunteers around, taking turns to tidy the bookshelves and displays; operate the till; and help customers search for specific books. This is the basic jist of what we do, though of course there's sometimes random other things (ie giving out free fairtrade fruit, advertising Charities Campaign events). Unfortunately we're often also left completely to our own devices with nothing to do in a spotless, organised, and completely deserted shop!

At the moment I also spend a fair bit of my time in the shop searching through our paper-based system of records and then contacting the people who we owe money to. As the seller gets their two thirds of the book selling price only once their book/books have sold, it can often be months before they receive any money back and so it is important for us to contact them as quickly as we can.

However, this is a bit difficult at the moment because, as I said before, everything's on bits of paper! Having been promised a shiny new database which should have been installed back in September for us to keep our records all tidy and up-to-date, we have been relying on a stop-gap paper system the whole year so far! By this system, we need to write down the code of every book we sell in a folder (and no, it is NOT helpful if we forget...) so that we can later look for these codes on the list of books we have from each seller and mark them as sold, at which point we can send out an email to inform the seller and offer them a cheque or cash payout.

As you can imagine, this leads to a bit of a backlog which we are really only just beginning to tackle properly, having resigned ourselves to the idea that the shiny new database may well not be operational until Septemer... (damned techies). 

Yes - I just wanted a jab at the dude who messed us around with this database.

Thankfully I've rounded up 6 other volunteers who are interested in helping me properly with Torchers, so I've named them as my lovely Torchers Team 2010! Next week should bring the first of our theme ideas following a pub meeting - you know that alcohol-fueled ideas are the best sort. Fi.

Posted by Fiona ( 11:30 AM )
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Tuesday Feb 23, 2010

Happy Fairtrading!

Well it's Fairtrade Fortnight, and I thought I'd leave a quick note (barely a blog but hey it's nice to be up to date) to mention how Bookends have decided to celebrate. Simple idea really, over the course of the fortnight we decided to give away a piece of fairtrade fruit with every purchase made in the shop! This gives us a chance to promote fairtrade on campus, as well as boosting student health and our own position as a friendly little shop great idea I reckon!

I'll check back soon with more news on Torcher's, the big relocation, and general goings-ons... Fi.

 

Posted by Fiona ( 9:20 PM )
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Saturday Feb 20, 2010

Chugging along

So, we've been working away with the shop re-opened for a few weeks now and really things are going along as normal for the moment. Future plans are just beginning to take shape as we've been having more socials recently, and next year is beginning to loom over us.

Anyway, as I mentioned before, I'm currently working towards my MV awards for volunteering in the book shop. The part that surprised me is that I'm already well over half way to my 50 hour award! Most of the new volunteers in the shop are now signed up for the awards and I've found it really is encouraging lots of us to put in extra shifts at the book shop, which is itself has let us all work together more often, and to enjoy shifts more! I knew the scheme would help to encourage many people to work more hours when I first joined, but I had not even thought about the positive consequences it could also have on each of us as part of a team!

Also, I have not achieved much so far in organising our float for the upcoming Torcher's Parade on May 1st. On Thursday I put up a quickly sketched poster asking for help from my fellow volunteers, so hopefully by Monday I'll know of at least a couple of people who feel willing to help out with it all!

The Torcher's Float will require a lot of organisation, as we firstly need to decide on a theme, at which point we can choose what sort of float we want to go for (how big, covered or open air), before we get to work on the acual design, and put it all together! Of course, it may not exactly go to plan as we then have to put our designs into practice ourselves, with a combination of random bits of wood, cardboard, paint, glue and no doubt some glitter...it will be very much like a primary school end of year art project! I hope that plenty of people will offer to help, especially those who will be staying on in the book shop for next year, as it'll provide some brilliant team-bonding banter, and hopefully help us to raise a fair few pennies for charity!

Anyway, I don't have much to update on today, so I'll be quiet for now. Fi.

Posted by Fiona ( 12:00 PM )
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Thursday Feb 04, 2010

First week back in action

Hi again!

Well, Aberdeen uni is finally onto the second semester of the academic year, after a nice long christmas break followed by a not so nice exam period. Now that we're properly back into classes and all of our volunteers have the free time again - Bookends has reopened for business!

Our first meeting of the semester was on Monday evening, where we discussed important issues such as the fact that our new database system has STILL not been installed (it was promised in September...) and of course, our upcoming socials! Unfortunately I'm missing the first of them which is tomorrow night, as I'm down in Edinburgh to see my long distance boyfriend instead...however, we're also having a pub quiz followed by who know what nonsense on Sunday which I will definitely be attending! The socials are a key part of the Bookends club, as it helps us to get to know each other and feel part of the team, even those members who only commit one hour a week - as we're all essential. I have to admit, regular socials was in fact one of the deciding factors making me join, as I wanted to do something which would also help me to meet like-minded people, and where I'd really feel involved.

Anyhoo, I thought I should let you in on my plans for what I'll be up to at Bookends this semester so here we go...

Firstly, I've signed up for the Millenium Volunteers Awards Scheme, which allows Scottish volunteers on certain projects to log the hours they've worked, and then earn awards for them in blocks of 50, 100, and 200 hours. A great addition to any CV, the awards encourage recognition of the hard work that volunteers do, and also help to encourage you to join new projects through advertising them on their site, and offering volunteers the chance to rack up more hours towards their awards (www.mvvolunteeringpassport.org.uk). 

Secondly, I've committed myself to a minimum of 4 hours per week now working at the shop, which I will try my best to stick to, and will probably often stay a little more!

Finally, and maybe most importantly, I've signed myself up as a member of the marketing team for Bookends. In this role I hope to become more involved in the Bookends family, and to improve our fundraising potential! This week I decided to decorate the shop with lovehearts and a raunchy display of books related to love and sexual themes in order to celebrate St. Valentine's Day coming up next Sunday, as something a little different for the customers - although I'm not too sure my History lecturer was too impressed when she came in!

Also I've thrown myself right into the deep end as I'm planning to head up our voluntary team for a Bookends float in the annual Torcher's Parade we have here in Aberdeen - the largest student torchlit parade in Europe! This is a massive event in the Aberdeen diary, especially for the Charities Campaign as it is our second highest fundraising event next to the Student Show. The Parade marks the end of Charities Fortnight, as you may have guessed this is the busiest fortnight of the year for our fundraising antics and is guaranteed to be a fun time! I've never taken part in the event before... So I'm not even sure where to start - but I promise to keep you updated!

Bye for now Fi.

Posted by Fiona ( 8:00 PM )
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Monday Jan 25, 2010

More do-gooder activities...UK-stylee

Hello Hello!

Newcomer to the student blog, I'm Fiona, a friendly third year Cultural History and Sociology student from Fife, currently studying up North in Aberdeen.

For those of you who may have skimmed through the overseas blog, you may have come across my name before as I excitedly rambled on about my voluntary experience and travels in the beautiful country of Mexico. Well, as my travels came to an end, I vowed to myself that I would carry on and become more involved with voluntary work once I was back at Uni - and I did!

Unfortunately, due to money troubles, my first semester's efforts were not epic, as I struggled to get through coursework whilst holding down a heavy-going waitressing job. However, money troubles are now sorted (for the moment, fingers crossed and all that jazz!) so I can now shift my focus back on to spreading the love through voluntary work again. Awww.

So far, I have enrolled myself into the Aberdeen Charities Campaign, and have committed a few hours each week to our on-campus second-hand bookshop, Bookends. Run by around 20 enthusiastic student volunteers, the shop provides Aberdeen University with a great opportunity to raise money for the Charities Campaign through a simple process:

1. Students bring in old books (course-related especially, though we take all books), CDs and DVDs.

2. They then decide how much they are prepared to sell each item for.

3. Once sold, we inform the seller and they receive two thirds of the price, while we collect the other third as a donation to the Charities Campaign - simples!

Enough of my marketing, so far, I have maintained a loose contribution to the bookshop, which I hope to expand upon this semester, by working more hours, and working harder to improve publicity and the status of the bookshop, to maximise our charitable contribution. I also hope to get more involved in events organised in the name of charity in Aberdeen, which I hope you'll enjoy reading about as much as I'll enjoy doing them!

Anyway, I think that's enough of an introduction from me for now, I'll be back in touch once the actions on as for now, I have an exam to study for... Fi.

Posted by Fiona ( 3:35 PM )
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Sunday Dec 06, 2009

Mental Health and Volunteering

Despite affecting a quarter of the population at some point in their lives, just the words 'mental health' can still conjure up pretty hefty stigmas.

But when we talk about wanting to be physically healthy, our thoughts do not always stray towards disease and disability; instead we talk about things which provide for positive health like eating well, and exercising regularly.

If we are going to subscribe to this dichotomy of physical/mental health, then surely we should do the same with the latter – so what provides for good mental health?

Philosophers have struggled with this for centuries, and to continue the comparison with physical health, it would be impossible to offer one cure for every problem. However without going too deep: having enough money, a home and a feeling of usefulness would seem like three good candidates for any such list.

This may explain why unemployment is often linked to depression and other mental health problems. However, while volunteering cannot provide money or a place to call home, I think it can and does help with other things. There has been some interesting research into its positive affects on those with mental health problems (who have one of the highest rates of unemployment amongst any disabled group), and going back to my first point there is no need to think that just because you have not been diagnosed with a specific mental health condition that you could not benefit from finding the right opportunity in your area.

Even the government has recognised these benefits, managing to allow for more volunteering to be undertaken whilst receiving Job Seekers Allowance by moving the notice period required for a volunteer to be able to take up work from 48 hours to one week. Shocking!

The Institute for Volunteering Research - IVR

Tackling the stigmas of mental health - http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/

On a 'cycle of unemployment, depression and unstable housing', Jane Canning in the Guardian.

Posted by Harry ( 12:26 AM )
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Tuesday Sep 01, 2009

Youth Achievement Award

Hi everyone!!

Just thought I'd let you know that I am beginning to work towards a Youth Achievement Award to do with my volunteering. I am really excited and I am starting my Youth Work placement on Saturday and the Deaf Centre on Thursday. I start my work with students in schools next week and the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award. I begin my Youth Work course and GCSE German qualification next week

So things are looking good so far.

See you soon.

Emma

Posted by Emma ( 9:58 AM )
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Tuesday Aug 25, 2009

Ministry and Youth Work

Hey Everyone!

Just another quick update. I'm volunteering at the Deafness Resouce Centre, befriending a young perosn and will be undertaking a level 1 sign language course soon. In additon, I'm doing a German GCSE course and a Youth Work level 2 course besides my A Levels. It should be fun (and hopefully not too stressful) particularly as I willl be able to write to my pen pal in her language. Also, I will be doing church ministry and signing to the congregation at masses and services in the chapel on sundays.

That's all for now

Emma x

Posted by Emma ( 3:16 PM )
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Wednesday Aug 05, 2009

Lifetracks

The Lifetracks website, developed by the wonderful people at YouthNet is going to be for young people form the ages of 16 onwards giving them information on what they can do after they finish mainstream education i.e. GCSE's. It will feature the three main areas of work, training and study. At the moment, this website is currently in its very early stages and went live on the 24^th of June 2009 for all the members of Lifetracks and was introduced at the House of Commons, but as it's still in progress there's still a lot of online volunteering to be done here. I started off an online project member. I was just browsing do-it.org and looking for some virtual volunteering when I can across this.

The position sounded very important to me as I knew that I would be getting joint responsibility for managing a project. It included involved the group members in the layout of the website, the content, what prizes we should give to users of the website who have achieved their goals, how an article should be set out, what ways should a message be conveyed (e.g. podcast, interview, video, article), what kind of problems do you think there are with current websites about careers, work and study and what do young people really need to know before starting a new job or embarking on study.

You really felt that you were listened to ask the YouthNet members who were in charge of the discussions also commented on your ideas sometimes which showed that they valued your opinion. Even more, you go your own profile page which you could add cool stuff (I added a comic strip to mine!) and you could post your own blog. It involved a look of proofing and editing features of the 'website' as well as analysing and researching for what should go into this new website but the YouthNet team made it fun. So if you are looking for something useful to do in your spare time and are looking to gain some virtual skills and meet some new people, then sign up as either a project team member or even a photographer!

Posted by Rochelle ( 12:01 PM )
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A month down the line

I have now completed a month of my internship. Doing an internship with an MP has its similarities and differences when compared with volunteering. It is similar to volunteering as it is unpaid and I only get my travel expenses refunded. On the other hand, I am acknowledged as working on behalf of Lynne whereas the volunteers are not.

Those considered to be volunteers in the constituency office are those who just come to help with elections in the form of canvassing, delivering post and stuffing envelopes. They do not have to attend a formal interview whereas I did which is very necessary for the casework internship as you need to meet specific requirements which include a good standard of letter writing, good telephone manner and an inquisitive mind. Finally, when you are an intern, you are given much more responsibility than a volunteer and can liaise with constituents, council members and ministers. You are the MP's voice whereas the volunteers are not.

The internship has got more challenging as I am now dealing with phone calls as well as letters. Resolving an issue then involves writing a letter to a minister, social services, police or to the council. The most challenging are the immigration cases. I find it very hard to listen to the stories of people whose application has been rejected or who have not received an answer about their immigration status for several years and so are stuck in some sort of unfortunate limbo. Unfortunately, when an application to remain in this country has been rejected, it then becomes a legal issue should a constituent wish to challenge a decision.

Posted by Rochelle ( 11:57 AM )
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