Giving back to the community…

Being the project lead on the homelessness project was really exciting and scary at the same time. The brilliant thing was the amount of support I had from the staff in the OU Students Association office. It was really nice to work with some amazing volunteers who all had their own reasons for helping out. One thing I particularly remember on the day was the sheer volume of donations we had! It was a freezing cold sunny day and I think this might have helped with the donation process as when people realised that there would be others living outside in the cold, they were really generous. 

Being project lead I had the great pleasure of counting up all that we had received and then splitting it up to go the five local charities that we were working with. Going along to ‘help the homeless MK’ and meeting the co-ordinator (a volunteer herself!), really gave me a sense of the small difference the donations had made – but at the same time the massive difference it would make in the life of someone. 

A few people who were homeless at the time actually came to see us on the day and we were able to directly help them. Sharing this experience with others has been really interesting and so many people I have spoken to want to run similar projects in their own areas.

When you have had something affect your life and then been given help it is so nice to be able to give back to that cause and make a difference, I really encourage you to think about what you could do to make a difference in someone else’s life through submitting an application to lead a student project!