Volunteering
Many places welcome volunteers. You can do something worthwhile as well as gain experience for something you want to do later. Find out about volunteering opportunities from the V Project at York CVS or Future Prospects.
V Project is a youth volunteering project for 16–25 year olds. It can offer one-off tasters in volunteering or part-time voluntary work and project opportunities. Contact Lisa Buckley at York CVS. She also runs a drop-in at Castlegate – phone for times.
There are also adverts for lots of interesting volunteering opportunities in the weekly Big Issue magazine – £1.50 from badged vendors around the city centre.
Nightstop need volunteers to put up young homeless people in their own home on a nightly basis, to provide transport or help with administration. Training provided. Could you or your family help?
Network 2 need volunteer mentors (18+) to work one to one with young people who have been socially or educationally excluded or are at risk of being so. Training provided.
You can volunteer in your local Youth Club at any age - even if you are still a member! Castlegate and York Youth Service have details of youth clubs and who to contact.
York BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) offer the opportunity to learn practical conservation skills, see the countryside and improve and maintain local wildlife sites.
The Prince’s Trust offers volunteering opportunities overseas.
Do good deeds
Save someone’s life by giving blood. Contact the blood donation helpline for the next session in your area, or fill in the online form and they’ll phone you back. You can give blood from 17.
Raise money for a charity that is important to you. Or take part in a fundraising holiday - lots of charities now offer the chance to do something exciting (like cycling across the Andes) provided you raise sponsorship.
Practice ‘random acts of kindness’ on total strangers as well as those you know. Say hello and smile at people. Start up conversations in shops and on the bus.
See the world
Work abroad. For example, ‘Camp America’ and similar schemes offer the chance to work with kids in holiday camps in the USA in return for your keep and time at the end to travel around.
‘InterRail’ gives you unlimited train travel in Europe for one month and is a great way to see our continent. Details from any main train station or travel centre. Join the International Youth Hostel Association before you go at York Youth Hostel.
You can get cheap rail or bus deals in the UK too - why not spend a fortnight seeing Scotland?