Warwick Volunteers complete 24 hour event

Warwick Volunteering (WV) took part in 11 different activities to help local communities in the 24 hour event, Do More 24.

The activities included food collection and sorting for Coventry Foodbank, a culture-themed party for residents at Willowbrook care home in Canley, and tree planting in local woodlands.

The events took place between 4pm on February 28 and 4pm on March 1, at the end of Student Volunteering Week 2014.

Over 100 students opted to take part and completed over 500 hours of volunteering.

WV carried out Do More 24 to help local groups and communities, including Kenilworth Phab.

A Phab disco was held as part of the events, which provided music, performances and a cupcake-decorating stall for the youth club that caters for disabled and able-bodied people between the ages of 10-19 years.

Canley Community Centre benefitted from volunteers redecorating the centre, carrying out some gardening and adding murals for visual appeal.

WV contributed to Coventry Foodbank by both donating food and also sending a team of volunteers from Warwick Aerobics to sort the food out so it was ready for distribution to local people in crisis.

Courtney Giles, WV general events officer, commented: “The event was fantastic, it was great to involve so many volunteers including volunteers who hadn’t volunteered before.”

President of Warwick Volunteering, Emily Muir, was pleased with the success of Do More 24:“‘I feel the event went really well, it was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the hard work our volunteers do both to the rest of the student population on campus and to the local community.

Ms Muir continued, stressing the on-going nature of WV’s work: “This was however just one event, Warwick Volunteers have over 50 projects and volunteers give up their time all year round to make a difference to the local community.”

Among the challenges of coordinating the event, Ms Muir commented that “organising activities overnight was challenging”, but volunteers succeeded in making crafts for charity shops, completing a 5.5 mile sponsored walk around campus and carrying out an early morning litter pick in Tocil Wood.

The Do More 24 event was supported by Santander through the Santander Universities Programme.