Admit it: as students we are continually on the lookout for ways to get free food, to pay less, to travel more and (perhaps not so much as the others), boost our CVs. At the moment, most of us are frantically looking for work during the summer to get a little bit of dough for the coming year (or perhaps to pay last year’s debts) However, for those who haven’t yet secured that perfect job or that perfectly priced holiday, don’t despair – Vision brings you the art of ‘self-beneficial volunteering’! The foolproof way to gain skills and experience for the old CV, and perhaps even get the opportunity to travel a little… and most definitely enjoy a reel of freebies! Here are just a few options…
Have you ever thought about volunteering for a charity? Why not consider working for CAFOD? It is the official overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales and is also part of Caritas International. What’s on offer? They can offer you a range of opportunities such as work in their York based office as an Office or Media volunteer or as a Schools volunteer. You can volunteer for a few hours a week or a couple of days. They offer training and reimburse out of pocket expenses. If you are interested in taking action, then supporting their campaigning work might be more suitable. They campaign on behalf of climate issues both locally and internationally and are always after help and support. Got more than a summer to spare and fancy travelling? If you are looking for a longer term commitment their ‘Step into the Gap’ project could enable you to spend a year working with a youth ministry team in either Lancaster or Hexham & Newcastle dioceses, and includes a six-week overseas placement with one of their partners. The placements provide the opportunity to get valuable first-hand experience whilst learning more about the life-changing work that ‘Step the Gap’ and their partners do, overseas. If sports are more to your liking, however, they are always looking for new fundraisers to take part in activities like the Great North Run or the Jane Tomlinson York 10K (this year’s run is on the 1st August 2010).
Ever thought about WWOOF-ing? WWOOF is a membership charity, teaching people about organic growing and low-impact lifestyles through hands-on experience in the UK. The name stands for ‘World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms’ and the charity offers just that: the chance to flit from one organic farm to another, living there for free, in exchange for your labour. And all for a nominal member’s joining fee of £2, which lasts for one year. After you’ve paid, you’re entitled to view a list of contacts who offer free accommodation in return for work. When in communication with one of the hosts, you can then discuss the kind of activities you will have the option of taking part in, what sort of accommodation is on offer and also the length of your stay. Ranging from a low impact woodland settlement to a 600 hectare mixed-holding with on-site farm shop, café and education centre, these hosts (as their website kindly reminds us), “do not expect you to know a lot about farming when you arrive, but they do expect you to be willing to learn and able to fit in with their lifestyle.” In addition to the 400 sites in the UK alone, there are also WWOOF organisations in many other countries. You must pay the national WWOOF membership fee however, in each of the countries in which you want to ‘wwoof’. So do something different and exciting this holiday. Embrace the idea of self-beneficial volunteering and get something back for the effort you put in. Be daring and bag an entry for your CV that no one else yet has!
Interested? To work with ‘Step the Gap’, contact Carol Cross (Middlesbrough Co-ordinator) on
[email protected], 01904 671767, or arrange to visit her at her office on: 54 Blossom Street, York. You can also visit www.cafod.org.uk/campaigns
To enquire about WWOOF farming, just click onto www.wwoof.org.uk.