A Volunteer’s Story… Nour | VAST Volunteering
VAST are passionate about supporting young people into volunteering, as they are the future of the VCSE sector.
We pride ourselves in working in partnership with The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, to help more young people into volunteering. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award helps young people build life-long belief in themselves, supporting them to take on their own challenges, follow their passions, and discover talents they never knew they had.
The Duke of Edinburgh Award is made up of four sections; Volunteering, Physical, Skills and the Expedition.
Nour came to VAST for support in finding a local placement where he could complete the volunteering section of his Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award. It can be difficult for young people to find an interesting placement that will accept young volunteers and fit it in around school or college.
That’s where we stepped in! Nour, and his dad Akrum, got in touch with our Volunteer Brokerage Service to find out their option and what support we could offer. We helped Nour apply to two different charity shops, as Nour had a keen interest in retail and the transferable skills it could help him develop. Nour was able to successfully start at Oxfam and he is having a great time, evidenced by the quotes below!
Nour:
I am Nasreldeen (Nour), a year-10 high school student who recently joined the DofE Silver Award program. I started my voluntary work with an Oxfam charity shop, as a part of the DofE programme. I was nervous at the beginning, as this is my first time doing voluntary work, but I love it now and the Oxfam team and other experienced volunteers have been so supportive, guiding, encouraging, and answering my questions. I started to learn more about the different voluntary works, service skills, communicating with people, teamwork skills, and how Oxfam is helping and supporting the Stoke-on-Trent community. I’d like to take this chance to say thank you to Sian Osborn, a Projects Officer at VAST, for helping me to find this great opportunity to volunteer at Oxfam. Therefore, I highly recommend VAST for the DofE Awards’ applicants to find great voluntary work to complete their applications, and to gain work experience.
Akrum (Nour’s Dad):
I am Akrum, Nour’s dad who applied for the DofE Silver Award and needs to complete a 6-month voluntary work, as a part of this DofE Award programme. In the beginning, I was not sure which kind of voluntary work was suitable for my 14-years son, and where, etc. Once I emailed the VAST team, I received a prompt reply from Projects Officer, Sian Osborn, with more details about different voluntary work opportunities, and she also offered her help as she already finished the DofE program a few years ago. Regarding my son’s voluntary work experience with Oxfam, I have noticed that he started to learn more service skills in different technical charity jobs, communication skills with different people, time management to finish specific tasks with deadlines, etc. So, I highly recommend VAST for parents who are looking at voluntary work for their children to get very interesting volunteer work opportunities. Last but not least I want to express my deep gratitude for the dedicated work and valuable support Sian Osborn did to find this excellent voluntary work for my son.
