Volunteers tackle community issues

This year’s Student Volunteering Week took place from Monday 22 to Sunday 28 February. It is an annual event aiming to raise the national profile of volunteering, with Warwick Volunteers embracing the opportunity to highlight the work that it does.

Student Volunteering Week, established in 2001, is a nationally recognised event organised by Volunteering England.

For Warwick Volunteers, the week has presented an occasion to emphasise the importance of volunteering and capture the significance of such projects for the future.

In recognition of the event, Warwick Volunteers published an article every day from Monday to Friday on the Warwick Intranet “Insite”, to showcase the benefit of their activities for communities and students alike.

Articles included one covering “Warwick Volunteers and Student Careers”, in which the President of Warwick Volunteers, Lana Babenko-Smith, highlighted that “volunteering provides students the chance to boost their employability” while Peter Rose, the manager of Warwick Volunteers, noted in his article “The Vision 2015 Strategy” that “the theme for this year’s Student Volunteering Week is ‘Inspiring futures; connecting communities.’”

The recently launched Students’ Union Community Strategy highlights volunteering as a valuable way of helping students to form connections with the communities they live in.

At the end of the week, Warwick Volunteers organised the successful Big Challenge, a popular one day volunteering activity that involved the participation of over 90 students at both Warwick and Coventry Universities.

Volunteers worked at three sites near Coventry, including a redecoration project at Wyken Croft Primary School and a conservation venture at Stoke Floods Nature Reserve.

The day also involved the construction of a paddock-style fence and tree planting at Rough Close Scout Activity Centre, a campsite and activity centre that covers 43 acres of ancient natural woodland and is home to an abundance of wildlife.

As part of the week, the Warwick Volunteers Exec held a successful fundraising event, “Glow”, at Saint Bar in Leamington on Monday, which raised money for Kidz Kamp and other volunteering projects.

Student Volunteering Week has also gained the support of a group of Members of Parliament, following a campaign by Volunteering England.

An Early Day Motion (EDM) was laid down in Parliament by Alun Michael MP, and, so far, seven MPs have signed up to support the week and celebrate the contribution made by the many student volunteers across the country.

Lana Babenko-Smith said “I think it is important to recognise the voluntary work that students at Warwick do, because a lot of their work goes unrecognised.

“This week is particularly important in terms of national recognition; the EDM above shows that student volunteering is not only an important part of volunteering in general, but an important part of our society.”

Warwick Volunteers currently has 1,920 members and is part of the Centre for Student Careers and Skills, with a strong, student led community.