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Horizon Volunteering Source Articles 2009/10
NEWS
Gold Award Winners 2009/10 So it all came down to this, the moment when the Volunteering England Gold Awards were announced at the Horizon Volunteering Awards Party 2010. The volunteering department at CUSU had 7 of the nationally prestigious awards to present to unknowing students who had shown excellence in volunteering. After a brief introduction of what these prestigious national volunteering awards were, the first name was announced. “And the first award goes to Jonathan Agyei” read Fran Docherty. Jonathan had led sports activities in the local Radford area of Coventry, inspiring young sports enthusiasts and shown a great ability to successfully plan, deliver and lead on a variety of sporting activities. In the past year Jonathan has become a very dedicated volunteer with organisation Sporting Chances and the role had helped him develop a range of skills including his confidence, professionalism and his ability to motivate and inspire teenagers. There was a big round of applause for Jonathan before the second name was read out. “Oyinlola Akinde,” again, a big round of applause greeted a brilliant volunteer who had become an inspiration to many and the first Horizon volunteer to win a Volunteering England Gold Award in consecutive years (2009 and 2010). Oyinlola has been involved in a multitude of volunteering activities this year, including with the Coventry Refugee Centre as an Asylum and Refugee Case Worker, as an organiser for the ‘Voices for Haiti Relief’ fundraising event, on the Coventry Women’s Forum and on numerous one-off volunteering events. The third and fourth volunteers to be honoured with Gold Awards were Zoe Bugby and Jamie Bradley. Zoe had been extremely dedicated and passionate in her work with the Coventry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (CRASAC) spending over 280 hours supporting people on the helpline and has worked hard to support the Advisors at CRASAC and at the same time supported victims of sexual abuse through the legal justice system. As the event continued and the winners were announced, the guests at the St Mary’s Guild Hall acknowledged all the students with warm rounds of applause, whistling and cheers and this continued as the final three awards were announced, one by one the volunteers came to the front and were presented with their award by Colin Green. Gary Chan, who had been sadly stranded in China due to the recent volcanic ash cloud and subsequent air traffic chaos, had his award accepted on his behalf by Georgia Dale from the charity Beatbullying. Gary had been an extremely keen volunteer, supporting kids who had been victims of bullying through online counselling and even gained paid work, after impressing the team at Beatbullying with his enthusiasm and dedication. Charlotte Harper who was the penultimate winner and had spoken earlier in the evening and later, she declared that she was, “Surprised and delighted at the same time” to be given such recognition of her work as a Coventry Cathedral tour guide. Charlotte has shown Coventry’s main tourist attraction to hundreds of school pupils and visiting tourists, re-telling the story of the blitz, its impact on the city and at the same time become a fantastic ambassador for Coventry University. The final winner to be presented with a Gold Award was announced, like the first, by Fran Docherty. Fran spoke of this volunteer’s, “Dedication, commitment leadership and great management of the Read International – Campus Book Drive”. Quite rightfully, Andrea Yaluma was asked to the stage to be presented with her Gold Award and cap the night off just perfectly. Andrea had been instrumental in a campus book drive collecting over 500 disused educational text books which will contribute to the resources available to children less fortunate than ourselves in Africa. The books will be collected and distributed in May to schools in both Tanzania and Uganda.
In alphabetical order winners were read out by the volunteer co-ordinators at Horizon Volunteering, Tim Beer and Fran Docherty and students received their awards from Colin Green, Director of Children, Learning and Young People at Coventry City Council.
Jamie has been inspirational in his work with the Coventry University Students’ Union Civil Engineering Society, setting up activities for him and fellow students in local secondary schools. These activities have raised the awareness and aspirations of STEM, science technology, engineering and maths, subjects at Barrs Hill, Coundon Court and Finham Park schools. Jamie was quick to praise the work of his fellow Civil Engineering volunteers Jason Beltrame and Peter Steere who likewise have worked hard and been an inspiration to school pupils across Coventry.
Tim Beer, Schools Volunteering Co-ordinator at Horizon Volunteering then said a few words acknowledging and thanking volunteers for the “Fantastic work which you continue to undertake in the community,” before one final warm round of applause for the winners of the Gold Awards. Well done all!
Horizon Volunteer wins a Women of Achievement Award
Horizon Volunteer, Oyinlola Akinde has been honoured by Coventry Women’s Forum with a Women of Achievement Award for the sterling work she has done in the local community. The award ceremony took place on Saturday 6th March at the Coventry Transport Museum and marked the launch of the Coventry Women’s Festival.
The awards were to celebrate ordinary women who have made an extraordinary difference. Oyinlola was nominated by Coventry University Lecturer Peter Atkinson for the contribution she made to the planning and implementation of the ‘Raising Voices for Haiti Relief’ concert as well as the varied voluntary work she has done in the local community through Horizon Volunteering, Coventry University Students’ Union volunteering department.
Oyinlola is an ambassador for volunteering and has made a significant contribution to the local community with her voluntary work, including being an Asylum Caseworker for Coventry Refugee Centre, marshalling at the Coventry half marathon, assisting at the Play the Game Conference as well as various projects for Student Volunteering Week, such as Read International Campus Book Drive and a Cloakroom Challenge painting project at All Saints Primary School.
