VIPnews

Volunteering Inspiring People 

Summer Vacation- Autumn Term Newsletter 2010-11 The summer vacation time and Autumn Term are over now and here is a quick update on what Project V was up to during the last 6 months. LINK UP NEWS Link Up, which is part of Project V, enables Societies, Sports Clubs and student groups to get involved in the local community and here are some of the projects we have been involved in recently. National Trust Teambuilding Days for our sports clubs

On the 15th October ’10 the Rugby team volunteered for one day with the National Trust as a teambuilding day. 21 rugby club members took part in this opportunity and had a fun day out in the countryside, cutting trees. The Film Society has linked up with New Larchwood, a residential care home and is screening classic films. This intergenerational project has now also expanding to the Black and Minority Ethnic Community Partnership.

The Fencing Club linked up with Dorothy Stringer High School and the Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA) to facilitate workshops and fencing sessions. At BACA 8 pupils have taken up the opportunity to try this sport and at the Dorothy Stringer High School between 25-20 pupils take part in the sessions. As part of this scheme, the Breaking Society decided to facilitate a one off workshop at the Coldean Youth Project. The organisation works with 9-13 year old young people, who like to take part in a variety of activities and welcomed the Breaking Society to facilitate the workshop. Five members of the society supported 2-3 young people each and taught them different steps which got combined into a small routine to show their parents.

The workshop was a success and Michael Osborne from the Breaking Society said that ‘I think it is something we'd like to do again’. Also Oshik Romen, the Coldean Youth Project Co-ordinator said that ‘The workshop was a real success and everyone really enjoyed themselves. Thanks to Project V for making it happen. Hopefully in future we can organize some more events in the future.’

The Children Society PUBLICITY STALL and Info event On the 28th and 29th October, the Children Society befriending service held a publicity stall on campus to raise awareness about their service as well as recruit student volunteers.

OUTREACH DAYS: Project V now also offers to come and visit your organisation to talk about how we can collaborate better in future. This means that each term we will keep 2 days free to either visit community organisations or for you to come and visit us. The purpose of the outreach days is to build and renew strong relationships between community organisations and Project V. In Autumn Term Project V met with the Alzheimer’s Society, Working Together- Congo and Adventures Unlimited. Here are the two dates and time slots for the Outreach Day in Spring Term 2011:

- Monday, 24th January 2011, 10.30 AM - Monday, 24th January 2011, 2 PM - Monday, 28th February 2011, 10.30 AM - Monday 28th February 2011, 2 PM

If you’d like to talk to us in person about all the great things you are currently doing and potential volunteering opportunities in future, then sign up to one of the outreach days. All you need to do is send an e-mail to Michaela at M.Rossmann@sussex.ac.uk NEW REGISTRATION PROCESS: We, in partnership with Active Student at the University of Brighton, have changed our registration process for volunteering opportunities. New organisations will now need to complete the Volunteering Opportunity Form, the Placement Checklist and sign the Service Level Agreement BEFORE we will advertise the volunteering opportunity. Once a student has shown interest in the volunteering opportunity, we will meet up for half an hour for a placement visit. At this meeting we will talk about the different ways that we can collaborate now and in the future, and how we can best support your organisation in volunteer recruitment. This process allows us to process your volunteering opportunities quicker and make student referrals more efficient. If you have any questions, please get in touch or have a look at our new website: www.sussexstudent.com/volunteering NEW LOGO: As you might have notices, Project V has a new logo and we would like to encourage you as well to send us the logo of your organisation so that in future we can advertise your volunteering opportunities in a more personal manner to students.

GREEN PROJECT: As mentioned in the previous newsletter, Project V organised a Green Project during summer. We collaborated with the National Trust, East Sussex Countryside Management Service and the Moulsecoomb Forest Garden and Wildlife Project. We had 21 students participating in the 6 one off volunteering opportunities provided by the organisations above.

Here is some feedback from students who participated in the Green Project: ‘It was very well organised. The staff were incredibly friendly and I thoroughly enjoyed my day. I also met some lovely and interesting people.’ Elizabeth ‘I definitely learnt some skills...like how to use a bow saw, but also, liked the team work involved, a good hard days labour never hurt anyone. I loved it, lots of fun! I look forward to trying out new things with Project V in the future.’ Amira

‘Increased knowledge of local flora & fauna. Increased ability to enjoy my surroundings. I know that if I ever get bored of staring at a computer screen there's a big green space out there to give me a change of scenery.’ Stephen Project V also helped to set up a one off volunteering opportunity for the newly elected officers with the National Trust and we even got a small article in the Argus!

ONE OFF VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES: Do you need some extra help redecorating rooms or tidying up community gardens (just to name a few)? Then please let us know because we can try and get a student group interested in helping out for a day. Also, please remember to report any accidents involving Project V referred students to us asap. … And, if you have any updates please let us know and feel free to send us some leaflets of flyers about your organisations so we can add them in our further information files. Finally, if you know of any Sussex Uni students who have started volunteering with your organisation independently from Project V, please encourage them to contact us to sign up with us. Students registered with Project V benefit from a range of services, from ongoing support, information about accreditation schemes and also the chance to be nominated for a Gold Award - a nationally recognised award in student volunteering. THANK YOU! Michaela and Naomi 01273 873387 projectv@sussex.ac.uk www.sussexstudent.com/volunteering