#iwill is represented by 150 inspirational young ambassadors, 50 from each year of the campaign. They are 10-20 year-olds who are leading fantastic social action in their communities. They come from a variety of backgrounds across the UK, but all have one thing in common – a passion that drives them to find time to help others. From mentoring their peers online, to coordinating a charity fundraiser or enhancing their local area, every one of these #iwill ambassadors is making a difference.
They were selected because they demonstrate a strong commitment to social action, and have inspirational stories to tell – stories which bring alive the double benefit of youth social action. Not only are these young people giving a great deal, but they are also building their character and skills in the process.
They have also promised to share their social action story with others, to encourage more young people to get involved, and the #iwill pledge that each has made is a commitment to continue making a difference to others. Do take a look through their stories and case studies and get to know them. It’s clear that for these #iwill ambassadors, social action has become a habit that will stay with them for life.
After bad experiences at primary school, when I moved up to secondary school I decided that I’d try and offer help to other children and adults who needed it. I started out fundraising for Devon Air Ambulance, because my Grandad had been airlifted when he’d had a heart attack.
I’ve always wanted to give something back to the community, helping those in need. I started off volunteering when I was 10 years old, with Guides and St John Ambulance. I went on to become a Young Leader with Guides, to complete 2000 hours of service and to become PR Officer of the London Region Youth Board for St John Ambulance, alongside getting involved in campaigning for First Aid Education in events such as the Big First Aid Lesson.
I’m a junior volunteer in my local community centre – I started volunteering when I was 14 as a way of giving back to my local community and inspiring young children, just as I was inspired when I was their age. In all, I’ve given over 250 hours of my time volunteering at the centre. I regularly use the centre’s Facebook page to update our community on our social action projects, a great way of connecting with local people.
My school helped inspire me to get involved in social action – and so did another #iwill Ambassador Ryan Bickle who does a lot at my school to help other people. In Year 6 we can take part in a project, Making the World Awesome, to try and make the world a bit nicer. I was in Year 5 when I wanted to get involved in social action, so I started earlier particularly for my Dad who was very poorly with cancer. To help other families in my situation, my friends and I decided to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Care and the St Mary’s Hospice.
I am registered blind, and there used to be very little awareness of blindness in my local community. I particularly noticed that the public transport provision in my area, which I and many other registered blind people rely on to get around, was not well-adapted for people with visual impairments.
I’ve been involved in social action since I was 9, through school. I started off by helping at the Northcote Library organising and clearing out books for younger children so they would have a better experience with reading. It was so rewarding to make a positive difference to my community, and I really enjoyed myself too!
Although my parents were always involved in social action through the Leeds Ahlul Bayt Centre when I was growing up, it wasn’t until I reached my mid-teens that I fully realised the impact that social action can have on communities and individual lives.
My main passion is increasing the scope of the youth voice, and that’s what I’ve been working on ever since I first got involved in social action at the age of 12 through my local youth council. The very next year, at the age of 13, I was proud to become a member of the UK Youth Parliament.
I have worked with the UK Youth Parliament since 2014, having been elected to represent Preston. In the role, I have worked to introduce political education classes to secondary schools, as well as lowering the voting age, and encouraging decision makers to listen to the voices of young people.
Often it can be really hard for young people in social action, as some adults don’t take us seriously. But my granny showed me that your age and gender should never be a barrier to your goals. My social action started with fundraising with my Guide unit at the age of 10, and I quickly decided that I wanted to help fund activities for young girls in my area.
When I moved to Prestatyn a few years ago, I didn’t know anybody. Joining youth groups and taking part in volunteering helped me to get to know the new community I lived in, and as a bonus I made lots of new friends. I’m now involved in my community every single day.
I started my own charity, Beat the Bullies, to help victims of bullying to turn their negative experiences into something positive through music. It aims to be a safe space for young people who feel isolated, encouraging those who are being bullied to pull together and support each other.
I’ve been involved with the Frances Bardsley Autism and Disabilities Club for a few years now, volunteering at the RIEES Autism Club in my local area of Romford. I go to the club every Saturday – the 14 – 24 year olds who attend are some of the most socially vulnerable members of our community, and it’s a privilege to be able to help out.
I’ve recently completed my Baden Powell Award – the highest award in Guides. A big part of being a Guide is getting involved in the local community and volunteering, so I’m really proud that I’ve been able to do that whilst working towards the Award.
You can start social action anywhere – I started in my school. It’s really important to me to get along with everyone in my school community. I wanted to try and help out anyone who might be struggling, so I signed up to the Headstart Peer Mentoring Scheme. Now I’ve gone on to complete both the ‘Introduction to Peer Mentoring’ course and the ‘Understanding Peer Mentoring’ course.
Over the past year I’ve got involved with the National Citizens Service programme (NCS). I started off as a participant last year, and then I was thrilled to be selected as a peer volunteer to provide support to other young people. This year I had an interview to be a peer mentor on an NCS social action project, and I was so happy to be chosen.
It’s so important to reduce the stigma which surrounds mental illness in young people, particularly in schools and colleges. With the help of O2 Think Big, I started up my own mental health organisation for schools, Well Minds, after struggling with mental health problems myself.
I love being outdoors and getting stuck in with the environment and conservation work, even though sometimes I find it hard due to having Perthes disease, which affects my hips and legs and means that sometimes every step is painful. But it pushes me on knowing I can make a difference in appreciating my environment and helping other people understand how they can take care of it.
I’m a Cadet Corporal for the City of London and North- East Sector Army Cadet Force. I’ve been in the Army Cadets for 2 years now, and the experiences it has given me has been so rewarding. I regularly volunteer to lead other cadet groups of younger members, and get involved in community work and events to improve my local area.
It seems like volunteering and social action has always been a part of my life – I first started when I was eight years old, at my local community centre. I really enjoyed volunteering with groups for the elderly people in my area, and helping out with one of my big hobbies, computers and technology.
I want to make sure that as many young people as possible escape being a victim of any kind of abuse – be it physical, sexual, emotional, financial or psychological. That’s why I launched a campaign to make sure that other young people are aware of how to spot the signs of an unhealthy or abusive relationship.
I got involved with coaching volleyball through Active Schools. Now, I coach primary school children every week. I love volleyball, and so it’s fantastic to help young children to take part. I was inspired to start coaching by Zoe Smith and Heather Brownlee, who coach volleyball for Scotland East – they work really hard to inspire young people like me to play, and so I’d love to be able to pass that on to future generations.
I’m currently the CEO for the UK branch of The Youth Project, an organisation of young people who want to be able to make a difference to social injustice around the world. I helped to found the project, and I’m particularly interested in developing the social media and general online presence of the organisation.
When I was 12, I heard about child soldiers and what they have to go through around the world. I was horrified, and I knew then that I wanted to do something to help change the awful conditions that so many children face.
It’s important to me to support my local community, as I’m really proud of where I live. As a social action ambassador at my academy, I’ve visited other schools in the West Midlands and worked within my own academy to encourage others to get involved in social action too. Outside of academy life, I visit a local old people’s home to volunteer my free time.
Ever since I started volunteering as a Young Leader with my local Scout group, I’ve been passionate about encouraging and supporting young people to create a positive transformation in their lives.
I’ve recently been appointed Assistant District Commissioner for Youth Involvement in Scouts, which is an amazing recognition of my contribution. Through Scouting, I’ve had the privilege to meet influential figures such as HRH Prince Charles and the First Minister for Scotland. Alongside Scouts, I’m a volunteer coach for my local hockey club, hoping to inspire young people through sport.
Having been a refugee myself, I feel I have a first-hand knowledge and understanding of the obstacles and hardships with which they can be faced. Inspired by the experiences of my own family, I decided to get involved with my skills and knowledge at the age of 17, wanting to make a change for the better in refugees’ lives.
I’m very lucky to live in such a beautiful area and be surrounded by unspoilt countryside. For me it’s really important for people who live in areas like these to do protection and conservation work, so we can look after the landscape for us to enjoy and for generations to come.
I’m a volunteer at the Royal Free Hospital in London, working on the wards as a Dementia Companion. I think it’s so crucial to recognise hospital as a hostile environment to those staying with Dementia, but also that kindness can help to counteract this.
I was always part of School Councils when I was growing up, but it was taking part in National Citizen Service (NCS) that really made a difference in my life. As part of a team I managed to help raise over £1000 in two weeks for Leicester’s Children’s Hospital Charity. My experience on NCS made me realise that I wanted to continue giving my spare time and skills to make an impact in my local community.
My motto is to BE strong, BE heard and BE loud. But I wasn’t always this way – I used to be a shy young boy who lost my confidence and my voice after being bullied. I knew I had to stand up for myself and for others like me when I saw a story in the news about a boy who had committed suicide due to cyber bullying.
I’m passionate about social action. I used to think I was ‘too young’ to make a difference, but I’ve proven that that’s not the case. I may still be at University, but outside my studies I dedicate my time to improving the welfare of refugees and asylum seekers in South Wales.
For three years now I have been passionate about helping people locally, nationally and across the world. Every week I campaign for Amnesty International, raising awareness of world issues and human rights. I’ve also helped to run a food bank collection and volunteered to sort out the food, so that people who are less fortunate in my community can have a resource to fall back on.
When I was younger, I was very shy and introverted and I didn’t really speak up for myself. But when my mum volunteered to train as a leader for Rainbows four years ago, I offered to help out as I’d been a Rainbow before I moved up to Brownies and Guides. Now I can help younger girls in Rainbows who are quiet and shy like I used to be, encouraging them to come out of their shells.
After fundraising from a young age, I started doing more within my local community after I took part in a National Citizen Service programme, an amazing experience which I’d recommend to anyone. During the programme we helped out in a local skate park which didn’t have any funds for maintenance. This experience inspired me to set up a small non-profit organisation for young people in my area, Swale Young People.
As a Young Carer, I haven’t had an easy time of it, particularly after one of my family members was hospitalised and I had to move in with my grandparents. Staying involved with the West Sussex Duke of Edinburgh team helped me by giving me something to focus on – I’ve set up a young people’s Voice Group to inform the running of the Duke of Edinburgh Award in the county, and my drive to make sure that the voices of my peers are heard has kept me pushing forward.
I’ve always wanted to be able to make a change in my own ‘world’, but I never really knew how. When I was 14, I started volunteering with the London Borough of Newham to try and get the community more involved in sport, particularly athletics. This is when I realised that I could use something I have a passion for to create change.
Social action has always been a part of my life. When I was 6, I followed my Mum’s lead in fundraising for my primary school’s PTA – I wanted to give back what the school had given to me. Now, not a day goes by where I’m not taking part in some form of social action.
I didn’t have the best start in life, growing up in a single parent household in Glasgow Pollok, a community rife with poverty. Taking part in social action gave me the vital voice which is so important to young people from my area of Glasgow.
I’ve never really had the support around me to get involved in ‘traditional’ volunteering, but I managed to craft my own opportunities. Mainly using the Internet to form the framework which didn’t exist in my local area, I have created, organised and administrated several online groups to provide support and a safe space for many people including some with issues such as autism, anger management and social isolation or reclusion.
My social action journey began in 2012 when I started volunteering at a local café run by young people with special needs, and since then I haven’t looked back. My work has since evolved to a mentoring and counselling role, as I began to volunteer in my school and then with Macmillan, Childline and Barnardo’s.
I suffer from a condition called Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), which means my skin and other membranes in my body, like the lining of my mouth, of my gut, and even my eyes, blister painfully even on mild contact, and that these wounds never heal properly. I’ve had the condition since I was born, and it means that I live in pain every day.
I’ve been involved in the National Orchestra for All since it started back in 2011. The orchestra is a youth ensemble for young people across the UK who face challenging circumstances. As a Young Volunteer for the orchestra, I’ve helped to inspire younger musicians to believe in themselves and aspire to achieve great things.
My older brother volunteered with the Jewish Lads’ and Girls’ Brigade (JLGB), and I could see how positive the experience was for him. Six years ago now, I decided to follow his lead – and I haven’t looked back since then! I enjoy my work so much that I volunteer at two groups a week, rather than the usual one.
I really want to reduce poverty and make the world a better place. I’m only 10 years old, but I’m already getting involved in events and fundraisers. Among many other things, I’ve served in the slums of India, thrown a party for disabled adults and raised thousands of pounds for The Youth Project, an organisation of young people who want to make a positive difference in the world. I’ve also got involved with helping the community in my school, by working as a mentor for other pupils.
When I was younger I didn’t really see the point of trying hard at school. I felt like I wouldn’t blend in with everybody else if I worked hard – it seemed like if you did work hard, you weren’t ‘cool’. But when I got to Year 11, everything changed.
When I moved to the UK in Year 3, it took time for me to adjust to learning a new language. I was also ostracised due to my ‘weight’, which had a knock-on impact on my life. But when I started getting involved in social action, I set out on a journey to find my ideal self.
I got involved in social action as I wanted to make a positive difference to the lives or others whilst making a contribution to my local community. I am very proud to be one of the co-leaders of UnDivided – a movement to ensure that young people are placed at the heart of the decision-making around Brexit, no matter which side of the voting they stood.
I am a Volunteer with the Lancashire Volunteer Police Cadets group, which gives me lots of opportunities to get involved in social action. Sometimes we have Cadet Competition weekends where lots of cadets come together from all across the country, which is a great opportunity to meet new people.
Gymnastics is a real passion of mine. I’m a regular at the City of Belfast Gymnastics Club, where I coach children in gymnastics. I noticed that children with autism face extra difficulties, so I focus on coaching those with high-dependency autism in different types of gymnastics including trampolining, beam and horse. It helps them to improve their skills, like hand-eye coordination and balance, and have fun, all in a safe environment. I’ve also benefitted a lot from my work, developing strong bonds with the children, improving communication skills – especially non-verbal communication – and learning more about autism. I try to share what I’m doing to encourage others to get involved too, writing a piece about my volunteering for my school website and making a pledge on the Giving Northern Ireland pledge wall.
Life hasn’t been easy. Growing up, a family illness led to me taking more responsibility at home at quite a young age. It came at a difficult time and I fell in with the wrong crowd, ending up in an abusive relationship. It meant having to take a long-term absence from school, which really set me back and meant I was unemployed for a full two years after that. But slowly, over time, I found that I was starting to gain confidence again. Going to church helped, as did finding out about the Prince’s Trust. Now, I’m nearing the launch of my own social enterprise – as well as pursuing a degree, working part-time, and volunteering at my church Streatham Baptise Church and Brixton prison. Things are working out, and although I’m probably busier than I’ve ever been before, somehow my life feels a lot less chaotic.
My upbringing was challenging when I was younger, living on a council estate with my mum as my dad was not around. The environment was difficult, and I was easily influenced there by some of the people around me leading me into trouble with the police on many occasions. After some poor exam results, I gave myself a talking to, and started taking school, and life, more seriously. I joined afterschool classes, and stepped up my revision. I saw how my mum was struggling and said to myself that I would get her and me out of this struggle. I started thinking outside of the box and considering what I was good at – which led me to football – and I soon started coaching other young people about turning to sports rather than to a life of crime, through helping them, I was helping me.
When I was younger, I used to be in a gang, and I got expelled from school in Year 8. My reputation meant I didn’t stand a chance of getting into another mainstream secondary school. I moved around a few different education centres but was successively thrown out, until I eventually found one to take me. It was a tough time, because my mum was in and out of hospital for mental health reasons. But then I realised I couldn’t use that as an excuse to fail at life, so I got my stuff together and got some GCSEs. I didn’t know what to do next until I discovered Let Me Play, which provides sport and volunteering opportunities.
I used to be in the Army Cadets until I moved house, which unfortunately meant I had to stop. But what was the first thing I did when I got to my new town? I joined the National Volunteer Police Cadets! It’s through them that I’ve learnt so many new skills. For example, I’m now trained in first aid and in the past month alone, I’ve had to use my first aid knowledge twice. I also help sell poppies for the Royal British Legion on Remembrance Day, participate in community action days, and attend crime prevention workshops.
I’m only 10 years old, but I try to do what I can to help other people. It all started when my grandad died. He was one of my favourite people to spend time with, and when he died I cried for days. I decided that I should do something to help other people who had the same illness as him, so I held a jumble sale and made money for the Hospice. Next I made lots of loom band bracelets and sold them for Children in Need!
My social action journey started while I was a Scout. I was asked if I wanted to be a young leader for a Scout section in my local area, and I haven’t looked back since! It’s led me to become a Member of Youth Parliament, representing young people and campaigning on issues that matter to us. It’s also encouraged me to get involved in social action through my Youth Forum, and make Norfolk a better place to be.
When I was younger, I was lucky enough to have the support of caring parents who instilled in me independence and strength and showed me that helping others can only benefit the community we live in. Now that I’m older, I feel like it’s time for me to give something back.
I know that some people say walking is boring, and that a 10 year old is too young to make any kind of difference in the world. But I’ve shown in the past year or so that neither of these things is true!
Last year I decided I wanted to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care, so I did a sponsored walk. I set up a JustGiving page online to raise money, and then I walked 10,000 metres! It was amazing to see all the support I got, not only from my family and friends, but also from my Brownie group. Someone told Girlguiding Scotland, and they even put it on their Facebook page! I managed to raise £810 for charity, winning the East Renfrewshire Quaich for service in the community. I was so proud of myself that I decided to do it again this year – but make it a bit harder this time, walking the first day of the West Highland Way with my mum and my aunt, which was 12 miles. This time I donated sponsorship money to Beatson Cancer Charity in Glasgow.
I can still remember what it was like to start secondary school. Not quite knowing the rules at first, getting lost finding your way to the Science block, working out which clubs to join. It’s exciting, but it’s also a bit daunting. When I heard that Franklin Scholars were looking for mentors for Year 7s at my school, I thought about how at that age I’d have appreciated the support of an older student, so I volunteered to help. It’s honestly been an amazing experience.
I first got involved in social action after attending We Day UK – Free The Children’s event at Wembley Arena aimed at inspiring young people to take part in social action. Hearing from incredible speakers about the difference they had made in the world motivated me to run campaigns at my school, raising over £3,000 last year to help provide food, water and education in poor communities around the world.
When I help out at the Sam and Annie Cohen Day Centre, an elderly care home, I can easily see the impact that my social action has. Just by organising what might seem like ordinary social gatherings at the Centre, I know that I’ve helped put a smile on someone’s face. But that’s just the start: when you spend time in great places like that, you soon realise just how many organisations there are that need help.
I am currently Vice Chair of the British Youth Council and getting to this point has been a tough but amazing experience. I became Vice Chair of Hackney Youth Parliament when I was 14 and then got elected to represent Hackney to the UK Youth Parliament where I began to realise how much I cared about inequality – especially in education.
I was inspired to get involved in social action at around 10 years old because of the fantastic work of doctors and nurses at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London as they helped my younger sister who was suffering from a heart problem. This inspired me to go on to raise awareness of the Great Ormond Street Charity in my school and also raise money for the charity’s worthy causes. From then on, I have raised money and awareness for many charities including Diana Award, Wings of Hope, Free The Children, The Children’s Society, Micro-Tyco and other local charities in my community including Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness (KCAH).
For the past five years, I’ve been involved in social action in various ways. As a Sea Cadet, I often used to volunteer to do bag packing at Morrison’s in Chingford in support of various local causes. At school, I help out at various school events, as well as being Deputy Head Boy, a Prefect, and part of the Student Voice leadership team. I’m also an accelerated reading mentor, helping children in Year 7 and Year 8 who find reading difficult, and I’ve single-handedly run an inclusive drama club since 2013.
I grew up in a village with many challenges, where most people are in a poor economic situation, and sadly there are those in the community that feel little hope that anything can be changed. I want to inspire people to change things for the better.
A few years ago, I decided to do my Silver & Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards. For the social action element of this, I helped run a kids’ club for 8‐12 year olds in my village, which was really rewarding. I loved being able to provide the children with a space to have fun, be safe and know there are adults they can rely on. It got me into helping with a Venture summer camp, where I’ve been senior tent leader for the past three years, and Girlguiding, where I’ve spent five years running events and now volunteering as a trainee leader for the Brownies in my university town.
Social action has always been important to me. Whether it’s fundraising for charity through sponsored silences (a favourite of our teachers!), annual harbour jumps for Spina Bifida, cutting off my hair, volunteering at the Special Olympics Development Day, or mentoring girls at school, helping others is a part of who I am.
Some people think youth clubs and Scouts are just about having fun. They definitely are, but for me, they were also the springboards I needed to get into social action.
I always admired the adults and volunteers who went out of their way to help me and I decided that I wanted to be a part of that. For my Duke of Edinburgh’s Award I volunteered at my local youth club, with the Scouts and at an animal rescue centre. This was only the beginning though, and I soon started helping other volunteers at a local homeless shelter, and getting involved in local environmental work supported by the National Lottery, like litter-picking and preserving natural habitats. I’ve also participated in sponsored events for the Teenage Cancer Trust in the past couple of years – at the age of 15, my best friend died after battling cancer, so it’s a cause close to my heart.
I’m really into all kinds of sports, so it’s great to have found a way to use what I love to help others. My social action journey has involved volunteering at a disabled swimming club, running a rugby club for primary school children, and volunteering for Llanhilleth Street Games.
Most people probably don’t have much contact with their local fire service, but they probably do have a lot of respect for firefighters. That was the same for me, and when I found out about the Fire Cadets I couldn’t wait to get involved. It’s for young people aged 13‐17 to learn more about the Fire Service, improve communication between the Fire Service and the community, and increase fire and community safety awareness. As a volunteer Young Firefighter, I help at community events and I’m a trained first aider. When I was on a plane recently and a man was taken ill, my first aid skills helped to save his life.
I didn’t have an easy start in life. I grew up in poverty and at school I was bullied, and sometimes I couldn’t ever imagine things getting better. But social action truly did help me get my life back on track. I first got involved when I was just 12, and over the past eight years I’ve had some incredible experiences. I’ve worked directly with other young people, implementing personal youth development programmes in Edinburgh, and volunteering as a peer mentor.
I think that anyone with honest intentions and a simple idea can make a difference, if only they set their mind to it. That’s why I started The Youth Project (TYP) Foundation back in 2014. With over 1350 youth members worldwide, we’ve fundraised for and built a community centre for children in India, and I spend every summer there working with children living in slums and coaching football.
I’ve always loved listening to inspirational speakers, and I’ve found that events like TED talks are a brilliant way to learn about new ideas and pick up tips on public speaking. But young people’s voices are often missing from these platforms. That’s why I decided to organise a TEDx event at my school – the first of its kind.
I have 10 years of experience so far at the Jewish Lads’ and Girls’ Brigade (JLGB). I can still remember meeting up with my group every week, and all the parades and music concerts and camps we got to be part of. Now that I’m 18, I’m glad to be able to give something back and make sure other children have the same opportunities I had.
My social action journey started with my local youth group. I noticed that young people like me respond better to advice when it comes from someone their age, and that’s what got me into peer education. I found that I really enjoyed talking to others about how we could make our community a better place to live, and through West Dunbartonshire Council’s Youth Alliance Peer Educator Group I got the opportunity to do just that.
When you think about Christmas lights, you probably imagine fairy lights around the tree, and perhaps the odd reindeer outside your home. But not if you live in Lurgan! A few years ago, I started making Christmas lights a BIG deal at my home. I started ‘Tim’s Lights’, a Christmas lights display designed to bring the community together. In 2013 I decided to turn it into a fundraising opportunity, raising almost £300 for Charlene’s Project – a local charity supporting education in Uganda. Ever since, I’ve wanted to make the display even bigger and better. In 2014 we raised £1,013.41 for Marie Curie Cancer Care, in memory of my friend, Andrew. In between, I spend a lot of time providing technical support and encouragement to lights enthusiasts around the world who are also fundraising for charity.
The difference between girls and boys might seem obvious, but when I was younger, I didn’t see any difference between girls and boys, men and women. When I was a teenager I finally understood that though I was born a girl, I am actually male. Looking back, I remember I even had arguments in McDonald’s about having the boys’ toy from the Happy Meal, not the girls’!
When I was seven, my Dad very sadly passed away. I went through an exceptionally tough time, and throughout it the Scouts were truly a lifeline for me. To this day, I’ve tried to do what I can to give back. I’m now Chair of the Scouts National Community Impact Group, connecting communities through social action. At school, I was Head Boy and led our international cooperation scheme with Michamvi School, Tanzania. I kept in touch regularly with them, helping them complete their roof and make the school a safer place to learn. I’ve also organised fundraisers, most recently for Nepal, and ensured our Senior Citizens’ Christmas Meal, bringing together isolated elderly people, reaches the far corners of our community by making posters and asking local GPs and care homes to advertise them for us.
I first got involved in social action through my church, where I became a mentor, and at school, tutoring other students. Those experiences brought a change in me and ever since I’ve continued helping others. I did NCS with The Challenge, helping improve an allotment area and campaigning for children’s rights. I’ve also been a Youth Board Rep, helping to fundraise £2,000 for YMCA, as well as raising awareness for the homelessness charity StreetLink.
I firmly believe in equality for all – a guiding principle that I live my life by. I started doing more for the MOGII (Multiple Orientations Gender Identities Intersex) community by volunteering with Gay Men’s Health in Edinburgh. Here I got my first taste of what I could do to help people, and how it made me feel when I knew I had made even a tiny difference.
Every week, I volunteer as a Rainbow helper for 142nd Frecheville Rainbows in Sheffield – a group of 5‐7 year-old girls who meet up to make friends, do crafts and support the local community. If I ever notice that one of the girls is upset or worried about something, I always make time to sit with her and talk to her to help her overcome her problems. I think it’s so important that girls are supported to be the best they can be, and I aim to inspire them to believe in themselves and not worry about peer pressure.
I first got involved in social action three years ago when I joined my school’s Student Council. Since then, I’ve Chaired my local Youth Council, earned a ticket to Free The Children’s We Day, represented my school at Downing Street on behalf of the IF campaign to end global hunger, and campaigned on causes like anti-bullying, LBGTQI+ rights, climate change and women’s rights. I’m currently volunteering to help the NHS with their clinical commissioning review.
My social action journey began when I read in the news about the terrible consequences of gender inequality across the world. I believe in a just and tolerant society, and reading about girls who had suffered from FGM and child marriage shocked me into taking action. I felt I couldn’t just sit back and let these things happen, so I decided to do something about it. I got involved with Plan UK, and have since helped them campaign for girls’ rights. I think it’s so important that we stand up to gender equality and fight on behalf of those who are silenced.
I’ve always found it odd that adults should get to make decisions about young people without even asking them what they think. So when I heard about the NHS’ Shropshire Young Health Champions through my local youth club, I jumped at the chance to get involved.
In 2013, I set up a campaign called ‘Greatness over Bullies’ with my friends. We support young people suffering from bullying, offering advice and letting them know that people care. Now, I spend a few hours a week growing the campaign and working on projects like the Support Room, an online support space for young people dealing with bullying which O2 Think Big helped us set up. We’ve also started a YouTube series, Fresh Thinking, on tackling bullying, and young people regularly tell me that the campaign has inspired them to fight bullying too. I’m also on Thurrock’s Youth Cabinet, where I work with other young people to advise on youth services in the local area, and debate issues such as young people’s mental health and social media. I’ve recently won a v30 award from vInspired for my social action, and have just launched a new campaign: Give A Read (@givearead)!
In April 2014, I was proudly elected as a Youth Councillor for Epping Forest District Council, and since then I’ve spent over 170 hours volunteering. I regularly attend Youth Council meetings, and I also sit on the adult committee reviewing the Council’s youth engagement work.
I am passionate about the environment, local food production, reducing food miles and at least having a choice about whether we eat GMO. My aim in social action has always been to raise awareness of the myriad of issues affecting our future and to contribute to our society.
Since I was just five years old I’ve been involved in social action. I can’t really remember a time when I wasn’t! I started helping others through the Catholic Guides of Ireland, where I’m now in a leadership role as an Assistant Guide Leader. It’s an important organisation to me because it provides such a great service for our local community, and I love being part of it.
According to recent research by Girlguiding UK, girls are increasingly worried about how they look, and one in five primary school girls has dieted. I strongly believe that body confidence is one of the biggest challenges facing girls today, and I’m determined to do something about it. As a Guide, I’ve become a Peer Educator, delivering sessions to other girls on body confidence and self-esteem.
Of all the ways to make a difference in your community, I think youth democracy is one of the most powerful. I’ve been a Member of the UK Youth Parliament for Norwich South for 18 months now, and I spend several hours a week working on causes I care about. I recently campaigned to improve mental health services in my local area, and contributed to Norfolk County Council’s strategy. I also care passionately about supporting those with Motor Neuron disease, and have raised over £2,500 through fundraising for Motor Neuron charities. In schools, I’ve been involved in peer‐to‐peer support, particularly helping primary school children.
I was 13 when I first heard about St John Ambulance. The opportunity to learn life-saving skills and use them to help those in need was too good to miss, so I signed up immediately. Five years later, when I used those skills to save my Dad’s life, I realised just how much that decision changed me. I believe everyone should be able to do what I did, which is why I’ve spent the past couple of years delivering Basic First Aid training to 2,000 young people across Leicestershire.
Sadly, it’s all too often the case that those who are on the margins of society are disengaged from it, and their voices go unheard. Growing up in care, I can understand what that’s like. But through social action, I’ve learnt new skills and found a confidence I didn’t know I had. Helping others is so rewarding – whether it’s litter‐picking in the local area or organising a tea party for local elderly residents. I’ve enjoyed starting up my own initiatives most of all, and I’ve got big plans to boost youth social action within my local area by running weekly volunteering sessions.
We all have a responsibility to look out for others, and I try to do that through the Scouts. For a while I’ve volunteered every week at my local Cubs group to give 8‐10 year olds somewhere to have fun, learn new skills, and get involved in their local community. It’s in an area where there aren’t many opportunities for children and where there’s a lot of poverty, so I’m glad to be able to provide a safe space for children to go, as well as take them on camps every so often.
Since primary school, I have enjoyed connecting with others through social action, from the micro to the macro – from personal development to human rights. My faith also reminds me that we are all equally deserving, and so I should always do my best to help spread and facilitate opportunities for others wherever I can. It’s led me to become involved with St John Ambulance, a charity I now represent nationally. I’ve trained others in first aid and given them life‐saving skills, as well as acted as a mentor and helped young people develop the confidence to become leaders in their own right. I also deliver first aid both in day‐to‐day life and at public events.
It was during NCS that I first learnt about the impact social action can have on a community. In the final part of the programme I took the lead role in organising our group’s social action, on bridging the gap between generations. I knew from then on I wanted to engage with social change, be it on a small or large scale.
There’s a huge gap between young people and decision‐makers, and that needs changing. My volunteering has been inspired by my passion for youth voice. I caught the ‘bug’ for volunteering age 13, and since then have not looked back. In 2011, I was elected as a Youth MP and at 15, I founded the Big MK Youth Debate, after successfully applying for grants, including vInspired Cashpoint funding, and then I ran the event for three years. The Big MK Youth Debate forced local decision makers to listen to young people, whilst equipping the young people with the skills to allow them to stand up for what they believed in. I trained up a group of 20 volunteers to help run each of the events, and I am immensely proud of all of them.
I’m proud to live in South Lanarkshire, so I jumped at the chance to join my local Youth Council and volunteer at a nearby youth club. I work with young people all over the area to make sure their voices are heard and spend a lot of my time attending events and campaigning with the Scottish Youth Parliament.
Completing NCS in 2011 first got me into social action, and I’ve spent my free time helping others ever since. In the UK, I’ve volunteered at foodbanks and set up my own volunteer group connecting the foodbanks with local student volunteers. I got involved in vInspired’s Team V, working on social action campaigns like Swing the Vote, and creating my own campaign to target stereotyping which got over 7,000 likes on Facebook. Now that I’m at university, I lead a personal development programme which brings alumni back to the university to give skill talks to current students. I’ve also been on my university’s charity committee, and now I’m the Charity Liaison for the university too.
I’ve been involved in youth democracy since I was 16, when I joined my local youth council. From there, I got elected as a Member of Youth Parliament for Oldham and worked regionally with Youthforia North West, Dovestones Youth Rangers, and as UK Youth Parliament regional secretary for 2013-14. Currently, I’m a trustee for the British Youth Council.
I volunteer at my local Age UK shop come rain or shine, helping in the running of the shop in lots of ways. One of my main responsibilities is looking after Gift Aid. It’s so important for charity shops to be able to claim back Gift Aid on any items donated, as it can raise huge sums of money. Whereas before I was responsible for producing the Gift Aid stickers manually, I recently took the lead on making the new shop printer ready for printing Gift Aid stickers. This new method will increase the shop’s productivity in a big way, hopefully increasing Age UK’s revenue for Gift Aid too.
My social action journey has been a varied one. I’ve been a Youth Councillor for Newcastle City Council, a Member of Youth Parliament for Newcastle Central, Head Event Organiser at the European Youth Parliament UK and part of the Youth Leadership Team at Citizens UK. I’ve campaigned on education and transport, giving a keynote speech at the House of Commons in 2013, and supporting Make Your Mark. I’m also a big campaigner on healthcare issues, and I’ve been part of the Northern Clinical Senate Assembly for NHS England, and the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. I also support charities as Youth Commissioner and Graduate Ambassador for the National Citizen Service, and Children’s Champion for UNICEF UK.
In 2012 I became an Anti-Bullying Ambassador at school, and haven’t looked back since. I’ve been part of the TV documentary ‘Bullied’ with Jodie Marsh, visiting a school in Barnsley which had major problems with bullying to give workshops to staff and students. We turned the school around and it’s now recognised for its anti-bullying work. After seeing the documentary, other schools requested help, so we hosted training days for them. I’ve also created an anti-bullying team at my new school, training them to help others and reducing the number of students being bullied by almost a third. I’m now part of the Diana Award’s anti-bullying Youth Board, and I recently visited Facebook HQ in Dublin with them to give advice on making Facebook safer for young people.
I am a Lloyds Scholar who became involved with fundraising for the charity Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research when my good friend, James, died of cancer when I was 15. I established the Winterton and District Branch of the charity in 2011, and my role involves leading a team of young people to arrange fundraisers and awareness-raising events. One of our branch’s missions is to be an integral part of the community, benefitting our local area while raising funds for the charity – over £52,000 so far.
I’ve always enjoyed helping other people and communicating about causes that matter to me, to help people understand and support them. I volunteer at the Leftwich Brownie pack on Monday nights, and I’m a Guide at 1st Rudheath Guides. At Rudheath, I look after one of our Guides who has cerebal palsy to make sure she’s included in all the activities we do. I’m also developing my leadership skills by working towards my Baden Powell Award. When I was eight years old, my friend Emma’s brother was in remission from leukaemia and I wanted to do something to support other children who were suffering from the illness. So, after six months’ intensive training, I climbed Mount Snowdon with friends and family in aid of Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, raising thousands of pounds.
In May 2014, I started the Sport 4 Life UK Young Leaders project. It’s for young people aged 10-14 to lead a sports event in my community and raise money for a local charity, as well as do some volunteering for them. I helped organise a sports event and was in charge of helping people learn archery. I spent the whole day teaching other people and really enjoyed it. I decided to support an anti-knife crime charity because I have been in trouble with the police before and I sometimes have anger management problems, so it is a cause that I really care about.
For most people completing the Duke of Edinburgh Award, it is an end in itself, but for me it was only the beginning. Once I’d completed my Gold Award I decided that I wanted to help others who were trying to complete the same challenge. Through Girl Guiding I was able to train as a Young Leader for the Duke of Edinburgh Award, and I could start helping others! I’ve always thought of myself as a ‘doer’ and Girl Guiding and the Duke of Edinburgh Award helped me achieve my goals. I volunteer four hours a week during school time, but in the summer holidays I get to go away for weekends and for longer trips. I love volunteering and I love inspiring others to do the same. Thanks to Girl Guiding and the Duke of Edinburgh Award I can do just that!
My social action journey has taken me around the world! The first big project I was involved in was in South Africa, where I asked schools and businesses to donate old sports equipment to some of the poorer schools around the country on Mandela Day. Since then, I’ve barely stopped! Back at school in the UK, I supported CAFOD, organising tuck shops, cake sales and car washes. In 2013, I raised £300 for Mary’s Meals by organising a fundraising concert with my mum for 120 people. Through my youth group, I’ve helped raise over £7000 to build a kitchen in Malawi, by organising themed fundraising events, like a University Challenge-style quiz. Most recently, I was lucky enough to go on Free The Children’s Virgin Atlantic scholarship trip to India as one of the youngest participants.
I used to struggle at school because of my dyslexia, but since I’ve started volunteering my whole life has changed. First I started helping out my kayak coach at the Glasgow Kayak Club. I really wanted to paddle competitively that year but because of my shoulder injury I wasn’t able to. Instead he invited me to start coaching and now my self-confidence has shot up! I also help with the Forth and Clyde Canal Society, volunteer at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley with my grandfather, and I set up a Community Action Project at my school, Bishopbriggs Academy. Our aim is to get as many people volunteering as possible. I set up the Project after training as an East Dunbartonshire Voluntary Action Volunteer Champion, which I couldn’t wait to put to good use! I love encouraging other people to volunteer because I know how I’ve changed because of what I do.
When an England rugby player came into my school and gave us a one-off rugby coaching session, I was inspired to take up the sport. I knew that I wanted to play and coach rugby too. Finding a passion like rugby was a huge step for me, as I had been bullied at school and had been taken out of mainstream lessons. I knew that I needed something that could give me my self-confidence back, and rugby was it. Now I play for a local rugby club, the Bedford Blues, every week. I also took part in the Sky Sports Living for Sport programme to help me find my confidence. Through that programme I’ve been volunteering as a rugby coach for primary school pupils outside school time, and I was really proud to win the Student of the Year Award recently! All of this happened because I found something to do that I enjoyed. I’m no longer bullied at school, and I’ve also returned to mainstream lessons. Just by volunteering and contributing to something that was entirely new in my life, I’ve rediscovered who I am and am now doing really well at school.
I’ve been involved in social action for the last five years for a few different charities. I started out volunteering every week in my local Cancer Research shop, where I stayed for three years. I’ve also taken on various social action projects through my school. I travelled to Romania to support a local community to become more self-sufficient, raising all the money for the trip there myself. I also helped set up and run a Fair Trade shop, and organised a tea party for elderly people in my community. I mentored younger students too, and now that I’ve finished and I’m doing an apprenticeship, I still go back to help out on open days and talk to the Sixth Formers about coping with exam stress and social action opportunities they can get involved in. I’ve also volunteered for Kids Company, Marie Curie, and for the last six months I’ve been volunteering for Immigrant Counselling and Psychotherapy (icap) and Team V, where I’m a leader responsible for recruiting others to help run social action projects.
I first got involved in social action via my school’s charity project raising awareness for Harris HospisCare in Orpington, to improve the lives of patients. We organised events that raised more than £2,000! I wanted to help out even more, so I decided to set up my own charity donation webpage. I set myself a skiing altitude challenge over my Easter holidays, and I managed to double my fundraising target, raising over £1,000! All the money I raised went straight to Harris HospisCare.
I first got involved in social action through the National Citizen Service (NCS) in 2012. I spent 30 hours volunteering, putting on a family fun day for disadvantaged young people, and mentoring children living in a deprived part of Liverpool on the Edmund Rice Summer Camp. It inspired me to want to do more, so I joined the UK Youth Parliament as the Liverpool representative. I’ve had so much fun campaigning and working with regional groups on what matters most to young people. I’m now an NCS Leader in the North West, which has given me the confidence to go and speak to people from completely different backgrounds to me. I’m involved in a charity called ‘OnthisRoc’, helping blind children and adults experience the thrill of rock climbing for the first time, and I’m helping children become more confident readers through the Wirral Successful Reading Partnership. All these experiences have shown me that there are real benefits from giving up some spare time to help somebody else – not only to the person being helped, but to the volunteer as well.
Social action is a huge part of my life now, but it wasn’t always that way. Only last year I would have been too scared to put my hand up in class, but after getting involved in Mother Helpage Worldwide and having the chance to speak at the UN, and following a Free The Children assembly at college, I was inspired to help others. It turned out that helping others also helped me.Within a few weeks of the assembly I had raised £1,200 for Free The Children’s overseas development projects, and was soon invited to speak at their We Day celebration at Wembley Arena. Sharing the stage with Vice President Al Gore and Malala Yousafzai, I spoke in front of 12,000 people. Just a few months ago, I was thrilled to win a place on Free The Children’s volunteer trip to India where I helped to build a school, and I was proud to win a Yorkshire Children of Courage Award recently for my fundraising work, and be nominated for a Diana Award.
When I was 14, I became a peer mentor and cyber mentor with Autism Training, where I volunteered to support younger students who had or were being bullied. It was a hugely worthwhile experience, and I’ve since gone on to do lots of social action in my local community. I recently did a bungee jump and a 10-mile sponsored walk to raise money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research – I’ve been a member of the Winterton and District branch of the charity for two years now – and I’m currently organising my own project where I’ll be running a stall during National Small Change Big Impact Week. I’m the proud holder of two Diana Awards, for being a Champion Volunteer and a Champion Fundraiser. I’m passionate about helping others, and I’m glad I’m able to make a difference in my community – it’s made me the person I am today
When I was younger I was badly bullied online and in school. I wanted that to stop and to help other young people who were suffering. So, I got in touch with the Diana Award and I was trained up as one of their Anti-Bullying Ambassadors. In my school I set up the ‘sanctuary’, a place where students can come to talk to me if they have any problems.My journey has taken me to Facebook HQ to discuss cyberbullying, and to the European Parliament in Brussels to talk with MEPs. I won a Diana Award as an Anti-Bullying Champion, and I told my story on CBBC’s Newsround, in the Metro newspaper, and in the Medway and Kent Messenger. I also recently found out that I won a BBC Radio 1 Teen Award!
I first learnt about how awful depression is for people of all ages when I read the Harry Potter books. I’d heard that J. K. Rowling created the ‘Dementor’ characters to represent depression and how when she was depressed she felt like all the happiness was being sucked away. Her stories made me want to help people suffering from mental health problems in any way possible. So, I trained to be a MindFull (MF) mentor in school when I was 13 and trained to be a BeatBullying (BB) mentor after I turned 14. With the help of MindFull, the other mentors at my school and I planned a fun fair to teach younger students about mental health and the MindFull support offered in school and online.
I have been working with Anchor boys for a number of years as a coach and was awarded his Queen’s badge last year. However to encourage others to volunteer I trained with East Dunbartonshire Voluntary Action Volunteer Champion and became one of the 10 Community Ambassadors establishing a Community Action Project within Bishopbriggs Academy which pledges to encourage and facilitate as many volunteers as possible within the school. I spend my private study periods helping to organise the project, establishing links with VIO’s around Bishopbriggs and recruiting volunteers for in-school initiatives like the peer tutor homework project. I am growing in confidence daily and helped to run the quiz at the recent Intergenerational event.
My social action journey started as a Brownie, and I’ve been a huge supporter of Girlguiding ever since. I went on to be a Guide, and although I’m now busy with college and a part-time job, I still find time to be a Young Leader for the 3rd Boothstown Brownie Pack. I’m also a volunteer and Young Ambassador for the charity Meningitis Now. It’s a cause close to my heart – I suffered from meningitis as a child, and tragically in 2012 I lost my best friend Alex to the complications following meningitis. Ever since, I’ve been determined to help others who suffer from the illness and its long-term complications, as well as those close to them. I’ve organised Elvis Nights, zip wires at the Imperial War Museum, craft nights and much more, raising £6,000 in two years, and I’m often on social media and talking to the press to raise the profile of Meningitis Now.
Before I started doing my Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards around three years ago, I had hardly any confidence and didn’t socialise much outside school. I decided to get involved mainly because I wanted to go camping, not realising just how much of an impact it would have on my life. Now, I feel like a completely different person. As part of my Bronze and Silver Awards I volunteered for Phab Hounslow, a local youth club encouraging people of all abilities to come together on equal terms. I now spend 10 hours a week volunteering there, helping young people build communication and life skills, and it’s inspired me to become a youth worker. I’m currently studying for my BTEC Level 3 extended diploma in Health and Social Care, as well as working towards my Gold Award.
Together with my sister Emma, I’m involved in all sorts of social action projects. I volunteered at my local retirement home as part of my Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, and I’m proud to say that I inspired Emma to choose to volunteer there too! I’ve also supported the charity Send a Cow to help people around the world who live in poverty, completed a sponsored swim for Children in Need, and I’m a Volunteer Police Cadet. I’m also passionate about supporting people who are homeless in Lancaster. I think it’s really important that we all take just a few hours from our week to help those who aren’t as lucky as we are. I spent the summer on the National Citizen Service programme where I loved supporting a local cause, and can’t wait to get stuck in to my next social action project!
When I was 12 I was diagnosed with anorexia. My eating disorder was triggered by the tragic deaths of close family members which coincided with me being dropped by my local football team, and it all became too much. I was unable to cope with my emotions, and put all my energy into compulsive exercise and refusing to eat and drink. It was scary: it was almost like someone else was in control of my body. But through the help of Fixers I was able to see that I had a problem and, even better, that my problem had a solution. I know now that helping anyone at all is a bonus, even if it’s helping people one by one. By educating other young people about anorexia, that is exactly what I’m trying to do.
I used to be someone without much self-esteem, and I cared a lot about how I looked. But doing yoga has completely changed the way I see things. Inspired by my yoga teacher Beckie, who showed me how to use yoga to challenge my negative body image, I began running sessions funded by O2 Think Big across Coventry for girls aged 13-19. Here, they can learn yoga and talk about positive body confidence and natural beauty. I love these sessions, because I can really see the difference it’s making to other girls like me.
At the age of 15 I set up Xplode Magazine Bolton with the aim of increasing the positive press surrounding young people. At the time, over half of the press coverage surrounding young people was negative. I decided to do something about it. In September 2011 I got a group of friends together to change these negative stereotypes – locally, at least. Young people are brimming with enthusiasm, drive and talent – why make us invisible? At Xplode we encourage a positive mindset: our motto for young people is ‘I can!’. We foster this mindset throughout the organisation, and now, Xplode is a registered charity which advances the education of young people in Bolton and Greater Manchester. Xplode has helped 66 young people gain skills over the past 12 months and achieve their potential. As Managing Director and Chair of Xplode, I manage a team of hardworking and talented volunteers, and I’m really proud to work alongside them.
I’m 10 years old and in Year 6 at my primary school. I love to help other people in my school and in my community. I’m a school prefect, which means I look after the younger pupils at lunchtime as a buddy, and help with all the social action that our school does. We support charities like the World Literacy Foundation to provide books for children in Colombia, and we dressed up recently to support International Literacy Day. Outside school and in the holidays, me, my mum and my little brother do lots to help our community. We volunteer at a foodbank, work in the community garden and help out at the holiday club at the Trinity Centre, the local church. I’m also a Girl Guide and I go every week. I’m always looking for new ways to help people and I’m proud to have a mum who inspires me to do it.
I’m committed to building social enterprises and to helping those young people often overlooked in mainstream society. That’s why I started Garden Gnomes, a social enterprise which is dedicated to keeping gardens beautiful so that people can enjoy what little sun we have in Britain! Our staff are young people who have been given Anti-Social Behavioural Orders and other young people who are excluded from society. From society’s so-called ‘bottom’, Garden Gnomes has taken me to the top of society – proof, if any were needed, that young offenders give and donate positively to our community, challenging the negative stereotype. I’ve met HRH The Prince of Wales and reached the final of the National Entrepreneur competition, when I pitched to HRH The Duke of York and Dragons’ Den’s Peter Jones! I’m now aiming for an UnLtd higher level award.
I recently got involved in Mencap’s Young Ambassadors programme, organising a fundraiser for the Birmingham Dogs Home. Together with my group, I spent four months making frames and cake stands from old records, which they sold with sweets at our college to raise £120.61 for the Dogs Home. Inspired by the fundraising, I wanted to get involved in more social action. Through Mencap, I gave a speech at the Law Society (I wrote it myself!) in front of a big audience about what it’s like to have a learning disability and how law professionals can help support clients who have learning disabilities too. Although I was scared at first about speaking in front of them, I really enjoyed it in the end and was so proud to have supported Mencap. Social action has really helped develop my confidence, especially when it comes to meeting new people.
I’ve been involved in social action since I was just 13. I started as a Lance Corporal in the Army Cadets, and just recently I committed to a year of volunteering, giving 1,700 hours to City Year UK. I’ve been working in my community supporting young people to overcome the struggles they face – support that I wish I’d had growing up in Southwark. My service year at City Year has, without a doubt, taught me that young people in the UK today need guidance, and need someone to believe that they can change the world, because unfortunately too often all they hear is “can’t”. But that just isn’t true. I know that my social action experience – with City Year and for Age Concern – has had a huge impact on the world around me and on me as a person, helping me grow my confidence and communication skills.
I used to be really shy. But that all changed when I started helping out at Southampton General Hospital. I’ve taken on quite a few activities at the Hospital, including volunteering in the wards, helping to mentor other students who have come to volunteer, and starting up an e-newsletter to keep everyone updated on the good work we’ve been doing at Southampton General. I even helped to develop a young person’s volunteer role in the Emergency Department.
Since the age of five I have been a member of the Boys’ Brigade, rising to a leadership role in recent years. I have completed the Queen’s Badge, the highest badge available in the Brigade. To complete this badge I took part in a ‘Building Your Skills’ course and helped out in my local community and church. I also organised a residential trip to the twin town of my hometown with five other young people.The Boys’ Brigade inspired me to take action elsewhere in society. I have been a Member of Worcestershire Youth Cabinet since March 2013, which has led to further involvement in social action through YouthNet, Model Westminster, and Student Voice.
For my whole life I have suffered from Erbs Palsy, a birthing disease, and Irlens Syndrome which affects my quality of life. Despite these setbacks I have found that volunteering gives me a focus that I can’t resist: I love helping others! As well as being a Guide, I’ve been part of North Wales Young Dragons/Dreigiau Ifanc Gogledd Cymru for four years, working with other uniformed youth organisations throughout Wales. I’ve taken part in 79 community based activities which have amassed over 370 hours in volunteering time. This has helped the Young Dragons raise over £36,000 for charities who help people with diseases such as motor neurone disease and diabetes, charities like Marie Curie Cancer Care and Great Ormond Street Hospital, and also I SPY Anti-Bullying.
I’m passionate about helping others, especially in healthcare. I was inspired to start my social action journey by my dad, who sadly passed away from cancer when I was 17. He encouraged me to help, support and befriend people going through tough times and be the reason someone smiles every day. So, I became part of my local NHS Trust’s Check it Out team – a group of 11-19-year-olds helping make healthcare services more accessible to young people. We identified barriers preventing young people from accessing services, and to overcome these we set up a website for young people to access health information, and a one-to-one ‘Live Chat’ app where young people can get confidential health advice.
I love being part of my local community, both in my spare time and at school. I live in a village, and every week I check with my neighbours to see if anyone needs a hand. I’ve also been involved in various local projects – from the Colourful Colinsburgh campaign, where I’ve planted tubs to make our village a nicer place to live, to setting up a worm farm, to baking for the local Colinsburgh Flower Show, all in between having a part-time job! I often hand out leaflets about events going on in the village to help bring the community together too. I often volunteer at school as well, helping organise events when we have visitors, and running charity events such as discos on a regular basis. I’ve made it my goal to inspire as many other young people as I can to follow my lead in making a difference by helping their young and elderly community become more of a connected place.
I’m part of the 1st Hawkwell Girls’ Brigade in Essex, and we do lots of fundraising together. This year I was in the ‘Sound of Musicals’, a production we put on to raise money for our local charity HARP helping people who are homeless. I’ve also helped my Nan with an afternoon tea event to raise money for breast cancer research, taken part in a fun swim to fundraise for sports equipment to send to Uganda, stayed awake at a giant sleepover to raise money to prevent human trafficking, baked for cake sales, and once I even cut off my hair as a fundraiser!
When my older brother went to prison almost three years ago, it really knocked my confidence. But soon I realised that I could turn that feeling into something positive by keeping other children out of trouble, and it’s made a big difference to my life. I go to youth club now, and tell all my friends to come too to keep them off the streets. I’m also involved in Sport 4 Life, where we get to do loads of sport and make our area a safer place to be as well. I’ve also been helping my local church with litter picking, which makes our community a lot nicer, and being out and about doing social action means other children have seen me doing a good thing and wanted to get involved themselves.
Through my work as a mentor, champion and personal tutor for Year 7 students at my school through Franklin Scholars I have helped some of the most vulnerable younger students grow in confidence and self-esteem. I’ve supported students who were struggling to settle into secondary school and helped them flourish in such a way that they are now set up for a happy and fruitful time at secondary school. Normally I meet with these students weekly for an hour at a time, and I can honestly say it’s the highlight of my week. When I see them grow into themselves, there’s no better feeling.
I really enjoy volunteering. I’ve been part of North Wales Young Dragons/Dreigiau Ifanc Gogledd Cymru for two-and-a-half years now, which means I get to work with uniformed youth organisations across Wales. I chose to be a Young Firefighter in Prestatyn, helping with fundraising, litter picks, marshalling, meeting and greeting, helping at events, bag-packing, and supporting environmentally-friendly projects. I’ve taken part in 42 community activities since I started, spending around 190 hours helping the Young Dragons raise an amazing £36,000 for charities such as St Kentigern Hospice, Erbs Palsy, and the St Asaph Flood Relief Appeal.
Making a difference to others is a big part of my life. I’m a member of Epping Forest Youth Council, improving services and challenging negative stereotypes of young people in the local area. Just recently at the local church, I read the names of local people who had died in the First World War, and laid a wreath on behalf of the Youth Council. I’m also part of the Police Commissioners Forum, working to reduce youth crime, and I’m hoping to start an anti-bullying project for teenagers soon too. I think my greatest social action achievement is swimming the English Channel last year in a teenage relay team to fundraise for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Swimming is a real passion of mine, and I volunteer every week to help children learn to swim.
My social action journey goes back a long way. It began when I was just 11 years old and elected to Kingston Youth Council. I went on to be elected as Member of Youth Parliament for Kingston aged 14, and then the London representative to the Procedures Group (PG) for the UK Youth Parliament. My main role for the PG is to inspire, support and train youth representatives from across London, and plan regional Conventions for over 100 young people. I also have responsibility for policies, procedures and national events, and have led on social media for the British Youth Council, as well as acting as media spokesperson on their campaigns. I recently started my own business, Rhammified Media, but I still find time to volunteer – I’m currently involved in a new coalition of young people in London called One Big Community, which aims to reduce youth violence.
Social action is a big part of mine and my sister Sky’s life. From cake sales to raise money and awareness for leprosy, to a sponsored walk for cancer awareness, helping at Northern Beat in the Grand Theatre, and playing my flute at a concert for a Ugandan charity, I always try to help others where I can. We both like to support our family, too. Our mum is currently expecting her twelfth baby, and our little brother was born premature, so we do what we can to help, and help other babies born premature – recently we donated my brother’s baby clothes to the local hospital. I’m also a Volunteer Police Cadet, and recently helped raise a lot of money for a little boy called Samuel who has lissencephaly so that he could get a new wheelchair. For my fundraising I was awarded the title Cadet of the Year which I’m really proud of. Soon, I’ll be starting a voluntary placement at Scaleford retirement home.
I’m a strong believer in the power of the voluntary sector in supporting marginalised people. As a volunteer for Stonewall Cymru, I’ve seen that in action: I spent a week helping out at the Eisteddfod, a Welsh national festival, to raise awareness of Stonewall Cymru’s work and to encourage passers-by to sign the ‘no bystanders pledge’, promising to report any homophobic hate crime against LGBT people. I blogged about it afterwards as well, to help spread the word. I’ve also volunteered for the Stonewall Information Service, signposting people to LGBT events and support groups across Wales.
I think my greatest achievements so far have been conquering Mount Snowdon aged seven with my friend Mia and our families, as well as taking on the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge. It’s all been to raise thousands of pounds for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, because my brother Jamie suffered from leukaemia when he was little. I’m also a big supporter of the Joshua Tree Holiday House and Support Centre, who help families with a child who has cancer. At the weekends and in school holidays I love spending time helping with fete stalls, sell raffle tickets, arranging and baking for cake sales and coffee mornings, doing sponsored walks and fun runs, and much more.
I first decided to change the world when I saw Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ with my dad. I now spend most of my free time trying to help other people. I’ve appeared in local and national newspapers and on local radio! At age 10 I became an ambassador for the charity TearFund which is trying to stop poverty around the world, and I travelled to Malawi to find out more. I am now an ambassador for The 100Hours, a campaign aiming to end world hunger. If it wasn’t for The 100Hours and TearFund, I would never have thought about starting my own campaign called ‘365 ways to change the world’, with the goal of bring everyone’s attention to the plagues of factory farming and the use of conflict minerals. I want to stop the damage they cause to the world.
When I was 18, I was living at a YMCA in Somerset. Life hadn’t been easy – I’d seen friends turn to crime because life in prison was easier than homelessness, and refuse early release because they thought they’d reoffend. It was my key-worker who first encouraged me to approach Fixers. I started to lobby policy-makers to provide better support for young people at risk of reoffending, writing lyrics for a spoken-word film which I presented in front of youth justice professionals and policy-makers. I’ve spoken to Ministers and my local MP, who has agreed to raise the issue in parliament, and knowing that my voice can be heard has had a huge impact on my self-esteem – so much so that I moved to Birmingham to complete an intensive access course, and I’m hoping to study criminology at university.
I’ve been involved in social action since 2011, when I joined the East Sussex Youth Cabinet. Since then, I’ve had numerous roles within youth politics, being elected onto the UK Youth Parliament to represent Hastings, Bexhill and Upper Rother, and getting the opportunity to speak in the House of Commons in 2012. In August 2013, I was elected Vice-Chair (Campaigns and Communications) for the British Youth Council (BYC). I’m passionate about education, and jumped at the chance to get involved in the BYC Youth Select Committee, where I’ve helped work on their ‘Curriculum for life’ campaign to revolutionise the way we teach citizenship and PSHE in the UK. Most recently, I’ve joined Project Participate – a social enterprise that promotes youth participation, empowering young people to make a positive impact on their local communities.
I used to be the kind of student who would blend into the background, but when I was 13 I started getting involved in the youth empowerment charity Free The Children. That’s when I changed. I helped out in different projects like ‘We Are Love’, selling badges to raise over £300 for schools in Haiti! Then there was ‘We Are Silent’, when I pledged to a vow of silence to raise awareness about people whose free speech is denied around the world. I managed to get the whole of my school year to go silent – our teachers loved it!
I was bullied when I was at school and found it a tough experience, partly because my teachers weren’t quite sure what to do to help me. From this I wanted to help other people who are being bullied, so I joined the BeatBullying Group aged 15. I’ve also been inspired to set up my own local anti-bullying project to provide people with information about bullying. Through this, I discovered Fixers, an organisation that helps sufferers from all sorts of problems. Along with Fixers I set up a website to provide information to teachers about bullying, and I also help my local council fight bullying in schools.
I love volunteering and encouraging others to get involved too. I’m part of the Scouts and the Guides, where I’ve helped out in my local community and countryside, developing and preserving it, and raised money and awareness for charities. I also help increase awareness of Scouting in the local area, and I was proud to be part of Scouts Speak Up! in Manchester, where I got the chance to talk to MPs and councillors about issues that affect young people, and debate ways we can create positive change.
When I was younger, I was a Cub Scout. I went every week and was really proud when I got the Chief Scout’s Silver Award, which is the highest award you can get as a Cub. I spent over over 80 hours doing community work through litter picking, helping the elderly, and bag packing. I’m now Assistant Patrol Leader at the 2nd East London Scouts, and I’ve carried on helping others and my community.
When I was little, my granddad suffered a stroke. It was really hard on him and my Granny, but they got through it and my Granddad found a way to carry on with his life. It made me realise that it can happen to anyone, and I decided I didn’t want other people to go through something so difficult. So, I became an ambassador for the Stroke Association NI, taking part in street collections, fundraisers, 10k runs and community health fairs. At the health fairs, I give out information to the public about stroke prevention and the physical and psychological impact a stroke can have upon the person and their family.
I’m a young carer for my brother, who has autism, and my social action journey started when I decided to help other young people like me. I set up the Action For Autism Families (AFAF) Siblings group with the help of O2 Think Big. We meet up, have fun and support each other, as well as help raise awareness of autism. I’m planning to run an art therapy day for the Siblings group soon, where we’ll try painting, drawing, sculpting and making music to help us describe how it feels to have an autistic brother or sister, and all the ups and downs we have.
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Jordan Abernathey
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Sarah Trott
Michael Bryan
Alison Birch
Joshua Adwinckle Povey
Matthew Tinker
Ruraidh Stewart
Maebh Reynolds
Georgia Cartmell
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Jamie Trusler
Jason Costin
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