Chantelle Is a Young Person Who Is Not in Education, Employment Or Training. She Has Been

Chantelle is a young person who is not in education, employment or training. She has been volunteering with the Sport and Play Summer Scheme which is a club for 5-14 years olds during the summer holidays. They play a range of games, arts and crafts and sports. Some of the children and young people who attend have learning or physical disabilities.

Chantelle has been volunteering for 5 weeks. In that time she has completed a week of training. The training focused on first aid, team building games, child protection, disability awareness and lots of other important things that volunteers need to know.

“I volunteered on my own which I was really nervous about but I made a lot of friends there. The ice breaker games we played at the start of the training really helped me. The games made me laugh and soon everyone was laughing and making friends”.

Chantelle had always been interested in learning more about disabilities and volunteering, however college and work always got in the way. Last summer she really wanted to volunteer so she had something to do. She also wanted to gain experience and qualifications.

“The Big Lottery project has really helped me. I came into see Holly and she told me about my options and what I would like to do. Holly told me about the play scheme and I registered for it. Two weeks later I had met with the coordinator and send off my CRB check. This was a really easy process and if I hadn’t had the weekly support from Holly I don’t think I would have found the process so easy”.

Holly’s support ranged from attending the initial meetings with the coordinator with Chantelle, going to see her on some of her lunch breaks to see how she was getting on, emails and phone calls. More recently Holly has helped Chantelle to fill in her Agored qualification in which she has gained level 1. She has also achieved 50 hours of volunteering and gained a MV50 Sport certificate.

“I got a lot out of volunteering. I went home everyday happy. I found it very rewarding and learnt a lot of skills which I will be able to use again. I met a lot of people and I learnt how to communicate with children and people with disabilities”.

“Volunteering with the play scheme has completely changed my career choice. I originally wanted to go into the Army and now I want to work with disabled children. It has really opened my eyes to the type of career I want”.

“Volunteering has also increased my confidence. I now feel comfortable to go into a room full of strangers”.