Calling all volunteers!

Do you do any voluntary work? Do you want to do any voluntary work? Are you aged 16-24? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then we have a scheme for you! Millennium Volunteers is a government project that rewards any voluntary work you do. This could be anything from helping in a local school, being part of a summer scheme, lending a hand at your local youth club to cleaning up your local environment to raising issues that affect young people. All the time that you spend on volunteering instead of hanging around bored with your mates or watching the television can be accredited under the Millennium Volunteers scheme. This means that once you do 100 hours of volunteering you are awarded a Certificate of Achievement, when you continue on to complete 200 hours, you are presented with an Award of Excellence. Both awards are nationally recognised, plus they look great on your CV! If you think about it, it?s only means getting involved for around four hours a week and most people spend that playing on their X-Box or being bored anyway. We have both received our 200 hours Awards of Excellence through Bully Free Zone?s Millennium Volunteers based in Bolton town centre. Bully Free Zone was launched in 1996, and has become one of the leading peer support projects in Britain. They aim to raise awareness of alternative ways of resolving conflict and reducing bullying. They work closely with children, young people, parents, teachers, and anyone else who requires information from them. Bully Free Zone has a warm, friendly and welcoming atmosphere, with Millennium Volunteers, young people and children being part of their close family. As there are many children and young people at Bully Free Zone, this gives the Millennium Volunteers a chance to interact with them and an opportunity to share experiences about what has happened. Sometimes the young people just want a chance to be listened to and the MVs are there for them in most cases. During the summer, Bully Free Zone ran a video project, in which young people and MVs came together to produce a video to show the effects of bullying and how it makes people feel. There were many skills learnt during the summer, we participated in exercises on trust, friendships, team building as well as learning how to use the video equipment as well as all the technical aspects of film making. This is just one example of how the Bully Free Zone manages to bring together MVs and young people, helping to make them feel more at ease and be able to form relationships as it is often easier for young people to talk to someone closer to their own age than an adult or a parent. If by reading this you think that becoming a Millennium Volunteer could be for you, or someone who you know, and you live in the Manchester area, contact Bully Free Zone on 01204 454958 and ask for Pete Kobryn. Bolton area, contact Bully Free Zone on 01204 454958 and ask for Kevin Walsh. Alternatively you could e-mail them on office@bullyfreezone.freeserve.co.uk

Author: Sammie Banks and Fiona Bond

Bolton iJourno group