Volunteer Thank You Event London

The annual ReachOut Volunteer Thank You Event is one of our favourite nights of the year.  It’s an opportunity for us to bring all of our wonderful volunteers together and show how much we appreciate their hard work, commitment and resilience. 

We provide one-to-one mentors for young people who have been referred to us for a variety of reasons and in the words of our London Manager, Chloe Holness, “volunteering with ReachOut is not easy, but if it were easy then those wouldn’t be the children that need a mentor”.  Despite this challenge, our dedicated volunteer mentors show up week after week, rain or shine, to support these young people in raising their aspirations, improving their academic attainment and reaching their potential.  We are incredibly grateful and so proud of every single one of them and this is our way of saying a huge THANK YOU!! 

This year we were extremely lucky to be able to host the event at the beautiful and historic Clothworkers Hall in the City of London.  With over 100 volunteers in attendance and the speeches out of the way we were pleased to announce the following winners of the 2017 awards:

ReachOut Academy Volunteer of the Year – James Lovelace

James has been volunteering since 2014 and has a great relationship with his mentee, Eren, who he has worked with for 2.5 years. He has participated in various workshops and fundraising activities, including football and dodgeball tournaments, and is soon to run the Hackney Half Marathon for ReachOut.

ReachOut Club Volunteer of the Year – Prithvi Shashikant

Prithvi has been a dedicated, reliable and supportive mentor, taking an active role on his project by helping with behaviour management and helping to run activities. His enthusiasm has had a massive impact on his mentee who has made huge improvements in their reading and writing.  In addition, Prithvi has been a great ambassador for ReachOut at his university and has even written a piece about us for the LSE Volunteer Brochure.

ReachOut Project of the Year – Redlands Year 6 Girls Project

Mentor attendance on this project has been consistently excellent and their project leader has made an exceptional effort to deliver interesting and fun sessions which have included art, cooking, sport and debate activities. The mentees on this project have particular challenges around self-confidence and self-esteem and the mentors have worked hard to build positive mentor relationships to combat this. 

ReachOut Project Leader of the Year – Ovig Mututa

We first met Ovig when she volunteered on our Summer Project in 2015 and we were so impressed with the way she engaged with young people we offered her the job of Project Leader that September. She is always thinking of creative ways to engage the boys on her project, from mini science challenges to bulldog with their mentors, and the boys have a great fondness for her.  She is strict but fair and goes above and beyond in her role as project leader.

ReachOut Outstanding Contribution Award – Daphne Mcrae

Daphne first started mentoring with ReachOut in 2012 at a ReachOut Academy project in Hackney with a lively group of 15 year old boys.  She then went on to mentor 10 year old girls at ReachOut Club, a totally different challenge!  She still volunteers today, as well as being the social secretary of the ReachOut Socials committee, organising social events such as pub quizzes and BBQ's for our volunteers throughout the year.

Kierhan Dhaliwal Student Inspiration Award – Toby Sansom

This award goes to Toby, who has shown exceptional dedication to ReachOut and his project since starting as a mentor in 2014. Now a project leader, he works hard to support his mentors and deliver an inspirational and interesting project every week. In addition to mentoring and being a project leader, he has helped raise our profile at Queen Mary University through the ReachOut Society and has also volunteered in our office over the summer of 2016 to help us develop our curriculum.  Unfortunately Toby is currently abroad so Boma, an ex-mentee, accepted the award on his behalf. 

Congratulations also goes out to all of our volunteers who were awarded with their 25 hours, 50 hours and 75 hours of volunteering certificates – well done and thank you to you all!

Thank you to everyone who attended and everyone who has supported us over the last year. Bring on 2017/18!

Macquarie does Dodgeball for ReachOut!

“Remember the 5 D's of dodgeball: Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive and Dodge” said Patches O’Houlihan once upon a time. And on Thursday 23^rd February that is exactly what a group of dodgeball enthusiasts from Macquarie Bank did as they took part in the inaugural Macquarie Dodgeball Tournament in aid of ReachOut!

As Storm Doris raged outside the players arrived at Haggerston School, who had kindly offered to host the fundraising event. Spirits were high, team talk was rife and everyone had their hopes pinned on being named the Macquarie Dodgeball Champions 2017 by the end of the night. 

After being selected by the Macquarie Graduate Network as their charity partner of the year in September, ReachOut worked with the graduate representatives, Dmytro and Gamu, to organise a fun, inclusive and energetic night that would engage employees from all over the bank. The dodgeball idea was a winner and nearly 50 employees turned up on the night to make their bid for the dodgeball title!  The graduate team were keen to ensure the tournament was open to everyone and enforced a penalty for any team which was not gender balanced.  The result was a 60/40 mix and the girls got just as stuck into the competition as the boys!

The group stages got under way with the ReachOut Mentors facing Underdodge, the Artful Dodgers taking on the Snoop Dodgy Dodgers, RegOps Rangers battling Team Ignite and the ReachOut staff competing with the Jammy Dodgers (there should have been a prize for the best team name in hindsight!). 

It was a hotly contested competition, with some spectacular dodging, cries of despair at being caught out and cheers of triumph at every win. After moving through the group stages and semi-finals it was the Jammy Dodgers and Team Ignite who finally made it to the all-important final but who would be crowned champion?!  After another 10 minutes of ducking, dipping, diving and dodging the Jammy Dodgers were triumphant and were awarded the Macquarie Dodgeball Champions 2017 trophy!!  Congratulations to everyone on their team!

It was a fantastically fun evening, with everyone at Macquarie showing great sportsmanship and enthusiasm.  Over £400 was raised on the night which will be matched by the Macquarie Foundation so the final amount raised for ReachOut will be over £800! 

On behalf of ReachOut, I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who took part and a special thank you to Dmytro Goncharov, Gamu Chikwanda and James Lovelace for organising, recruiting and running the tournament! 

Student Volunteer Spotlight: Yong Wei Tan

This week we checked in with one of our long standing mentors to find out what keeps him coming back to ReachOut. Yong has been volunteering since 2014 and has mentored at Shacklewell Primary, North Harringay Primary and Netley Primary in Camden. Yong is a fantastic mentor, enthusiastic and always keen to get involved...especially when it comes to dodgeball! Yong studies History at UCL and this year he was presented with the Jack Petchey Achievement Award for his commitment to ReachOut.  Here's what he had to say:

How and where did you find out about ReachOut?

I was first introduced to ReachOut at my university's Volunteering Fair in my first year. I had previously volunteered at a similar organization in Singapore, and was keen to continue helping in whatever capacity I could.

What motivated you to volunteer with ReachOut?

I've only managed to make it this far in life with the help and assistance of my teachers and mentors, and I thought that this would be my way of sharing my experience and giving back. ReachOut's emphasis on character development was something that I strongly believe in, and I felt that it would be a great chance to do my part, one kid at a time. 

What keeps you coming along?

Sometimes you feel like you're the mentee, because there's always something new to learn when you come for a session. I remember once when I had a bad day and I wasn't looking forward to ReachOut my mentee helped to cheer me up by sharing whatever little crisps he had with me. The attention and enthusiasm they give you makes you feel like you have to give them 100% as well, if not it's just not fair. It's also such a rewarding experience when you can track your mentee's growth throughout the sessions, and you feel like you've contributed towards changing their lives, even if it's by a little bit.

Is it a challenge to balance uni with volunteering? How do you do it? Is it worth it?

It's usually not a challenge, as the nature of ReachOut means that you'll be able to choose a session that is most suited to your timetable and commitments. Sometimes it gets a little rough when deadlines are looming, but you realise that 2 hours isn't that much of a big deal, and the time spent with these kids is going to be much more worthwhile than sitting in the library staring at your computer. It never feels like a chore, and I personally feel a very big sense of satisfaction and achievement when my mentee performs well during the session. 

Would you recommend volunteering with ReachOut to your friends or course mates? Why?

I would most definitely recommend ReachOut to my friends and course mates, because we are at the right age to serve as role models for the kids, and it never feels like a volunteering session when you're able to chat about football and joke about memes #feelsgoodman

Is there anything else about your experience with ReachOut that you’d like to share?

You don't just develop a close relationship with your mentee, but your fellow mentors as well. It's nice to have like-minded people that you can share a good joke with, or just play sports with. 

Thanks to Yong for his honest and inspiring insight into mentoring with ReachOut!

Volunteer Spotlight: Trista O'Sullivan

We caught up with one of our new volunteers to hear what she had to say about volunteering with ReachOut.  Trista O'Sullivan works for one of our fantastic corporate supporters, Barclays, and saw ReachOut advertised on their intranet. She has been mentoring Evan on the Year 8 boys project at Haggerston School since November 2016. 

How and where did you find out about ReachOut?

Barclays Intranet Volunteering site

What motivated you to volunteer with ReachOut?

I was looking specifically for a volunteering opportunity that involved mentoring kids or young adults.

What keeps you coming along?

It’s fun and the kids keep you entertained.  If they have a good week, do the work and are motivated then it can be really rewarding.  Other weeks can be challenging if they are distracted or not in the mood but I enjoy these weeks too as the reason I wanted to do this type of mentoring was to be put out of my comfort zone and learn and develop new skills.

Is it a challenge to balance work with volunteering? How do you do it? Is it worth it and why?

I have to leave at 5:15pm to make it on time.  It’s been fine so far and the majority of colleagues are supportive if you let them know the reason you need to leave.

Would you recommend volunteering with ReachOut to your friends or colleagues? 

Yes!  You get to develop additional skills you may not have exposure to during your day job, as well as seeing the kids develop and learn both behaviourally and academically.

ReachOut does the Santa Run!

‘Twas three weeks before Christmas, of that there’s no doubt,

9 mentors came together, to run for ReachOut

Running shoes on, red hat covering hair,

With thousands more Santa’s, good times we did share.

My mother told me that Santa didn’t exist. But on Sunday, December 4^th, 2016…she was proved wrong. On that brisk Sunday morning, thousands of people descended upon Victoria Park for London’s biggest Santa Run. Among those thousands of people, were nine courageous ReachOut mentors braving the cold to raise as much money as possible. 

Our 9 Santa’s left their reindeer behind and met at 10:00am at Victoria Park. After bonding over shared mentoring experiences and Santa outfits, there was a big stage warm up to get all the Santa’s limbered up ready to run either 5k or 10k. The warm up was absolutely brilliant, with a fitness instructor on stage guiding proceedings, while thousands of Santa’s imitated her moves. It was actually quite terrifying seeing thousands of Santa’s move in unison while shouting “Woop, Woop!”.

After the warm-up, the few thousand Santa’s lined up ready to start the run. If the warm up was terrifying, this was on another level. With the sound of the horn, Victoria Park became a sea of red and white Santa Clauses.

6 of our runners took part in the 5km run, while 3 took part in the 10km and all of them completed the run in great time! Especially considering they were all wearing Santa outfits! After the run, a few of the 5km runners were able to grab hot drinks and have a chat before heading off to enjoy the rest of their Sunday afternoons.

Not only do our mentors do extremely important work each week with their mentees, they also love to get involved in fundraising opportunities. Our 9 Santa’s managed to raise a fantastic £1,000! It was such a fun day, and a great experience for everyone involved and we look forward to being involved in it again in 2017.

Finally, on behalf of ReachOut, a huge thank you to Shanet, Emanuela, Hester, Qiao, Clemence, Josephine, Lizzy, Katherine and Julia who are all fantastic mentors and fundraisers!

They are now extremely busy getting ready for December 25^th…Good luck guys!