Thank you to our Bloomberg Christmas Helpers!

Over the last two weeks, over 200 Bloomberg staff took time out of their busy schedules to volunteer for ReachOut as a part of Best of Bloomberg, the organisation’s internal charitable drive which offers employees opportunities to make an impact on their local communities through volunteering in the run up to Christmas.

At six different events, teams of staff rallied together to make Christmas cards and presents for the young people on the ReachOut Club in London. Donning fancy dress and with festive music playing in the background, staff got stuck in and made some cracking items for ReachOut young people.

There were Christmas cards with 3D snowmen that popped out as you opened them and bundles of sweets that were cleverly wrapped up to resemble Christmas crackers, neatly pinched and tied at each end with ribbon.

Mentees on the ReachOut Club receive cards

At times, the making of the Christmas packages resembled the production lines at Henry Ford’s car-making factories! Different groups of staff were responsible for cutting paper and ribbon, others for wrapping the sweets neatly in the packages, while others were charged with finishing off the gifts by attaching a hand-written tag with a festive message scribbled on the inside!

The items made by Bloomberg staff were lovely gifts to reward our ReachOut Club young people with at their final sessions before Christmas. What’s great about the ReachOut Club is that young attendees feel that they belong there; it is their club where they can enjoy spending time with their mentors and each other. By being able to give the young people Bloomberg’s homemade cards and presents at Christmas time, we were able to really bring out this sense of belonging and give our young people one last thing to smile about at ReachOut before the Christmas break.

So, all that’s left for us to say is thank you very much, Bloomberg!

Merry Christmas. 

Merry Christmas from ReachOut

It has been a fantastic term for ReachOut. We have made good progress towards achieving our goals, and have provided 7 sessions of high caliber mentoring. As an end of term Christmas treat for our mentee's, we ran some extra special festive activities to reward them for all their hard work.

Our St Paul's Junior Mentor Girls project took to trip to the Manchester Climbing Centre to tackle the walls there. Brows were sheened with perspiration as everyone put in a great effort. Great fun was had by all as they tackled the imposing precipices.

The trip was a great opportunity for the young people to exercise some of the character values we have been emphasizing throughout the year, top most among them staying power. The walls can get quite tough and you have to push yourself at times. The girls all did really well and supported each other throughout.

Jo McSwaine

Project Officer

We all piled into the Our Lady’s mini bus and drove into Manchester city centre to eat our own bodyweight at Tai Wu Chinese buffet, and have a look around the Christmas Market. The mentors met us at the restaurant where everyone promptly loaded their plates with piles of food. Some of us tapped out after a couple of plates, but there were some impressive performances of four or more plates plus desert afterwards!

Frances Pearson

Project Officer

Our Lady's Year 8 Academy have been working towards a Christmas play for the last few weeks. Last Thursday was their big opportunity to impress parents and teachers with their self penned playscript.

It was great to see all of the young people working towards a goal, and taking a proactive role in organizing the play and the script. The play was a huge success, and the parents were very impressed!

Santi Sanchez Romero

                                                                                    Project Worker

Other trips included bowling at Parrswood and ice skating at Heaton Park. After such a great term we are all excited to see what next term holds. Merry Christmas everyone!

ReachOut is getting that Christmas feeling...

The tree is up and the advent calendar half gone. Letters to old Nick have been written and dispatched, and mulled wine bubbles on the stove. Here at ReachOut, December is a month where we like to celebrate the progress we have made in the academic term. Every year our inspirational volunteers make a commitment to making a lasting change in the local community, and every Christmas we take the opportunity to thank them, plying them with hearty Christmas fare.

The event was organized by our fantastic Society Chair person Hannah, who has worked diligently supporting the Manchester recruitment officer in staffing Manchester projects and in organizing fantastic socials for our volunteers. The social was held at All Bar One in Deansgate who served up some great grub to our hungry volunteers (along with the odd tipple!). 

The term has been a complete success and all of our volunteers have done a fantastic job. So thanks guys, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Now bring on next term.

Luke Shelbourn

Project Officer

Manchester

ReachOut Christmas Quiz

Do you know what gorillas do when they get nervous? Can you work out which ReachOut staff member’s name is an anagram of Town House Lurk?

You would if you had come to our Christmas Pub Quiz! Last night, ReachOut’s London-based staff and volunteers got together for an evening of drinks, food and quizzing. Congratulations to Quiz Team Aguilera who fended off the competition to win a £40 bar tab and a ReachOut mug each.

We’d like to thank the Shooting Star for helping us to host a great party and Jack Bond and Joe Kinchin-Smith for compering the quiz. Finally, a big thank you to everyone who came and made it such a fantastic evening.

Happy Christmas from everyone at ReachOut.