Residents in Calderdale are being asked to spare just a couple of hours a week to help continue our Gateway youth club aimed at young people with disabilities.
Gateway is a youth club run by Calderdale Council and supported by volunteers. It provides activities to help young people socialise, learn and develop new skills. Without our fantastic volunteers, this wouldn’t be possible.
Our young people are looking for volunteers who are ‘nice, happy to help, fun, lively, cheerful, kind and friendly.’ One week you could be playing football or basketball, the next you could be helping in the tuck shop, playing pool or even helping our young people get to and from Brighouse youth centre.
Paul has supported the youth club every Thursday for the last three years. Paul said:
“My son attends Gateway every week and I wanted to do something to help him, so I volunteered as a minibus driver. I have been doing it for 3 years and in that time I have helped all the other young people on my bus and got to know all of their favourite songs. It always makes me smile. Anyone who would like to help young people, particularly those with disabilities should definitely make the move and support this fantastic club. The sense of achievement is enormous.”
Courtney attends the Gateway youth club every week. Courtney said:
“I have been going to Gateway since I was 14 and I like that we do lots of things there. It helps young people with disabilities to make friends and have fun. It has given me so much confidence.”
Calderdale Councils Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services, Cllr Megan Swift said:
“Our Gateway youth club is so important for young people with disabilities in Calderdale. Without our volunteers, we wouldn’t be able to provide this fantastic resource for young people. The youth club is really well attended but for this to continue, we need more people to come forward.”
If you want to help make a real difference to the lives of many young people in Calderdale then this is your chance. If you can help us run the youth club at Brighouse Youth Centre, we’ll need you between 6.00pm and 9.00pm on Thursdays. If you could help get young people to and from the centre, we’ll need you from 5.30pm until 10.00pm. You could be a driver or a minibus escort.
Full training will be provided. Our volunteers are required to complete a DBS check but we’ll cover the cost of this.
You don’t have to volunteer every week. You can volunteer as much or little as you like. As a minimum though, we’d like our volunteers to support our youth club at least once a month.
Do something amazing and help us continue this opportunity for young people in Calderdale.
For more information, visit our Gateway web page, email cjgce@live.co.uk or call Sam Roe on 07872100547.