School holidays should invoke imageries of fun, excitement, activities, going away, invite friends over, days out with parents - a time for children to recharge, ready to start school with renewed energy. But for many families on a low income, this is not the reality. Their reality is parents face the school holidays with dread struggling with the extra cost of food, childcare and activities; the children suffer with social isolation spending most of their holiday indoors.
Hope Family Trust, via its Barking Foodbank project is offering an exciting opportunity for thirty children aged 8yrs to 14yrs to spend this summer holidays volunteering with the charity. As well as engaging in fun and activity, the children explore what it means to volunteer and why it is important to volunteer. Each child is expected to put in 24 hours of volunteering in our foodbank and clothes bank projects and will be presented with certificates upon completion.
Starting Tuesday 7th August to Friday 17th August for the first group of thirty children and August 21st to August 31st for the second group of thirty children, the programme promises to be an immersive experience stimulating children to become lateral thinkers as well develop social, emotional and character building skills. By spending time outside their comfort zone, they get a chance to see new life perspectives, meet with other children and experience novel situations they might not otherwise get to see. These skills they put into practice during the programme and shall be rewarded for doing so on Rewards Friday.
Rewards Friday:
Friday of each week, the child/children nominated by their peers for examplifying skills they have learnt during that week will get a prize. Friday is also the day we take a break and go out touring various child-friendly installations, museums, galleries and parks in the city. Friday of each week, the child/children nominated by their peers for exemplifying skills they have learnt during that week will receive a prize. Last Spring Half-Term holidays, the children each put in eighteen hours of volunteering and as a reward, had fun feeding the farm animals at the Vauxhall Animal Farm on one Rewards Friday and participated in an afternoon of activity at the Cartoon Museum on another Rewards Friday
Your pledges can help us give thirty children fond memories they can look back on and draw strength from during difficult times. Help us provide hot and cold nutritious meals, fun activities, have outing days while the children develop their sense of self-worth by their service to their local community.
As advertised on the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham Council website: