The University of Lincoln is a relatively new, rapidly expanding university, opened in 1996. In 2002, as part of the HEFCE Active Community Fund, I was appointed to set up and manage the programme.
My remit: -The promotion of volunteer opportunities which benefit the community and improve CV, skills, employability and experiential learning.
Based in the Students’ Union my areas of activity are: community engagement and brokerage of volunteer opportunities; help with funding student-led projects, networking, fundraising, education and mentoring.
My day starts with a twenty-two mile commute to my place of work in Lincoln. I find the drive gives me time to reflect on my ‘to do’ list and the activities of the day which are never the same two days running. The past years of setting up the programme have been both challenging and rewarding and the success and continuation of the programme has been ameliorated by Institutional support at all levels.
Meetings and networking are instrumental to my role. Firstly today I am attending the JUMP (Joint Universities Mentoring Project) steering group. A group of our young volunteers are acting as mentors to local children in foster and care homes. One to one meetings or activities are held fortnightly with visits to restaurants, cinema, museums and sports centres.
Mentees get the chance to discuss concerns and issues in an informal setting that perhaps they wouldn’t broach with a foster parent. For the mentee, having a young mentor to relate to is like having an older sibling to confide in. It provides a good role model. Once a month the whole project gets together for an out of town treat. The last visit was to an artificial ski slope. The next is to an ice hockey match.
I had a good response from student volunteers last year and this meeting is to evaluate the project’s success and plan for next years funding, and recruitment. I hope we can continue as there are many rewards and benefits are to all parties.
Back at the office I tackle the emails which have invaded my ‘in box’.
I sort them into priority, and fire off replies to the pressing ones.
I like to respond to student volunteers as soon as possible as I am sure most volunteer organisers are familiar with the saying “use them or lose them”! I am pleased with the five positive responses from Chinese students on my translation database. I have invited them to organise an event for Chinese New Year, at a local special school.
From my experience international students are mostly willing and proud to promote cultural activity. This year is ‘the year of the tiger’ and I formulate the February event in my head, around art, dance and Chinese food.Of course it is entirely up to them what they do, but I can offer ideas, help and advice.
I notice an important email from Investing in Volunteers is lurking at the bottom of the pile. I have previously opened and read it. The changes don’t apply to our application, but I leave it on the screen as a reminder to myself to get going with the self-assessment and related evidence!
I am pushed for time, but I digress. Lincoln Community Development Partnership emailed photos of the joint community event for Make a Difference Day.Indoors, students and staff worked with local children on their artistic ideas for a mural to improve the area around Sincil Drain. Outdoors, volunteers cleared out the rubbish! I remember it well – it poured!
I must make a move.
It’s time for yet another excursion. My colleague Jane and two other members of our India volunteer party are going to collect a cheque from the Rotary Club, at their lunchtime meeting.
In the spring, as part of our last year's fundraising for the charity People First International, we were invited to make a presentation to them as they were looking to support a worthwhile charity abroad. They were impressed with the good work of PFI and in the summer raised £750.
As we outlined, this amount will fund a school in Bihar for six months. We are going to report on our trip and collect the cheque, which will take the total raised through the University to almost £3,000.
Excellent, we have doubled our target. We aimed to raise £1,500 in order to fund a school for one year. Everyone funded themselves, so every penny raised goes to India. Armed with display boards, photographs and still vivid memories of the summer we set off.
We chat in the car about which aspects of the visit made the deepest impression on us as individuals. I worked mainly with the health team out in the remote villages around Bodhgaya, and could talk forever about the experience.
Jane taught IT and worked with the orphans and runaways at ‘Rescue Junction’, which is a school/hostel and absorbs the majority of PFI funding. Children are offered food and a bed for the night, provided they stay for the morning lessons. Many of them just stay, as they have nowhere else to go, and are keen to get an education.
Jane spoke about the poverty and economy of the area, outlining the fact that most of the population in the area survive on one dollar per day – about eighty pence! Anna’s account of our visit to the boys’ remand home was moving and eyes were moist.
She explained about our timely visit, and how a case of mistaken identity and corruption resulted in a young boy becoming separated from his parents at a busy railway junction. He was arrested for the theft of his own mobile phone, and taken away. He had been incarcerated for three days and his family had no knowledge of his whereabouts. It was fortuitous that our host Nick spoke Hindi.
The young boy bravely made eye contact, threw himself at Nick’s feet and asked for help. He related the tale of his separation, arrest, and the fact that none of his family knew where he was.
Fortunately he had memorised a mobile number and his family were contacted and told what had happened. We were told, however, that it would take up to three weeks to complete the paperwork for his release.
The presentation was followed by a delicious lunch, and later I wasable to pass on the details of the PFI chairman in Bodhgaya who is also a Rotarian. This networking is beneficial for building international relationships, reciprocal visits and future fundraising.
Back at my desk I am immersed in more emails. I need to write a ‘to do’ list for tomorrow. I find this focuses me on priorities and I love the satisfaction of crossing off the achievements.
Things don’t always go to plan time wise, though. Organising an event as part of a team depends heavily on cooperation and availability of others. It can very be very frustrating. Student availability and time tables have to be to taken into account as well as part-time work commitments.
I focus on the new email just arrived in the in box, a follow on presentation from a meeting I attended last week. A new and exciting collaborative community venture is to be opened in the autumn. Help will be needed from all subject areas of the curriculum. I think we will have lots more opportunities and projects to market to new students this year.
Requests to volunteer must always come from the individual.
Tutors and careers advisors can highlight the employability value of extra curricular activity during study, but it is my role to assess the value to all parties, and to help make suitable matches.
Charities and community organisations invest considerable time and resources in their volunteers and when they are rewarded with a dependable, caring and enthusiastic student volunteer it is a ‘win win’ outcome for everyone concerned.
I overhear a conversation being held at the reception desk.
A tutor is introducing four newly arrived Chinese students to a sabbatical officer. I introduce myself to them and tell them what we have planned for the Chinese New Year Celebrations. All are happy to take part.
The experience will give them a chance to get to know one another and children in the local school. One young lady has brought her Chinese instrument to England – the other three say they can sing...... I think it will be fun, but tomorrow’s another day!
