Young People Keep Doing Good in the Face of the Pandemic
With the country starting to get back on its feet, teens in Leicester, Coventry and Rugby have been spending their summer doing their bit to rebuild local communities and create positive change.
This year LEBC provided opportunities to 120 teens from across Leicestershire, Coventry, and Rugby, to carry out a wide selection of social action projects as part of the NCS Keep Doing Programme. Each social action project that the NCS Teams undertook intended to target the impact and effects of COVID-19 on their communities. Some NCS teams paired up with local charities and organisations that have been hit hard by the pandemic, while others launched social media campaigns and resource drives to uplift and support individuals and groups including the elderly, most affected by lockdown.
Alongside their commitment to helping others, each young person also received first aid training and took part in skills building workshops designed to give them lasting confidence in project management and a determination to support their local area.
Shahara Islam, a participant of Keep Doing Good, aged 16, said:
“…my two week NCS experience has transformed me permanently, as I was able to bond with my team, express my views fully, and become one of the main speakers for the team when presenting. I wanted the experience of doing something effective with my community, which I did, and I’m so happy to have made some life-long friends in the process”.
Between them, the young people carried out 4,496 hours of social action in just two weeks! By the end of the two weeks many social action miles stones had been meet – over 120 care packages and gifts had been delivered to residents in local care homes; 11 young people had climbed the equivalent steps of Mount Everest (58,070!) for a fundraiser; 50 handmade facemasks had been donated to vulnerable individuals; over 200 happy postcards had been sent to the elderly; 40 bags of donations had been sorted on behalf of a charity shop, impactful videos and posters were designed to help prevent people from being radicalised, 50 wellbeing packages had been made and distributed to the homeless; £300 worth of food was donated to a local foodbank; 2 youth centre gardens had been revamped; 10 air quality sensors had been set up across Coventry; and a grand total of over £1,799 had been raised for local charities across the regions!
Rachel Sheppard, Prevent Engagement Officer at Leicestershire Police said:
“Every year we are blown away by the hard work and innovation shown by the young people…It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to get an insight into the latest social media trends and hear from one of the demographics we are trying to reach; we gain just as much from it as they do. Despite having only just done their GCSEs, the professionalism shown was extremely impressive and their messaging really encompassed who we are and what we aim to do.”
Each of these social action projects is a part of NCS’s ‘One Million Hours of Doing Good’, a wider pledge to enable up to one million hours for teens to take an active role in helping the country recover post Covid-19.
For more information and how to take part visit www.wearencs.com