Routes to Roots - Week 1

So, In the first week of the final Team V 2013-14 campaign, I have had ups and downs in various ways. Unfortunately, the biggest campaign yet has come at exactly the same time as the biggest bits or coursework yet, which, at least for the moment, means that I have great big long lists of things to do in my notepad and I'm only slowly getting through them. On the other hand, thanks to me passing my Functional Skills Maths Exam, I now have an extra hour and a half at least to use to catch up on both college work and volunteering.

In the first week, despite the topic of #RoutestoRoots being a big one, I'm already thinking of ideas that are getting things going for organising a few mini events and one big one. I have already been to see the Deputy Principal of a nearby college to see if I could do a talk or workshop there and I will be going to the other college when I have the chance. Given this campaign is partially about leaving a legacy, I am taking the steps to hopefully give the young people of Darlington something to remember.

I will shortly be getting on with my project plan, however, that's only if I manage to work my way through my ever lengthening list of jobs to do. Just as I do one thing, it creates another thing for me to do. I am getting there though. I had a meeting with one of my volunteers today, which was really just to tell them a bit about what they could do and get contact details and so on. I'm attempting to get a few more volunteers and arrange a volunteer meeting for the next few weeks. Luckily, in this case, I seem to have technology to help me. There is a neat tool called Doodle and it lets you organize meetings. It's quite cool. Plus, Buffer is proving useful, especially for when I'm busy and can't tweet. These seem to be useful tools so I'm giving them a shout out for any other volunteers/leaders who want to use them.

Over the weekend, it was very good but we were constantly trying to get up to 2,000 followers on twitter. After a shout out to my volunteering, they had the honor of being the 2,00th follower. On the other hand, they wanted a prize for doing so. I did offer to write them an article on the campaign which seemed to be a good prize. The trouble is, I still haven't written it. I will have to get a move on tomorrow. On the other hand, if I need to, I will come in early or stay late to get bits of work, volunteering or college, done next week. It saves being behind and I would just like it to be calm again.

Oh well. It's going to keep me busy but it's better than being bored or walking around town wasting time. I will keep you up to date with the progress and hopefully get through it over the weekend. Please check out the campaign video below. Team V Out!

Countdowns and records

If you are wondering what I am on about when I'm saying countdowns and records, I have just about reached 300 volunteering hours (a new record for myself) and I am counting down to several significant and exciting events over the next week, mainly to do with my volunteering. On the other hand, it looks like it could be a busy week anyway.

It is now roughly 2 days until the Vibe Awards, where I will see my girlfriend and volunteer collect her award, as well as some very deserving other candidates and local organisations. I may not be nominated myself but to be honest, I'm so proud of Faye that I don't particularly mind. Plus, I do it for the fun and to keep myself occupied. It also looks great as experience on my CV, award or not. It should be a good event and as a young journalist, despite being there to support my volunteer and girlfriend, I would have liked to report on such a great event, however, I wouldn't know where to publish it. I will be sure to publish a post awards ceremony blog though.

I am also looking forward to the final Team V Residential in Loughborough, next Saturday. It is not only the last time, apart from Graduation, that I'll get to see everyone but given the length of the last campaign, it will be interesting to find out the issue that we will be campaigning on. I'm also looking forward to exploring further opportunities that I could do once the programme is finished. Although I will provisionally be doing a Level 3 course next year, I would like to see what I can carry on doing to keep something going. It seems a shame to just leave what has been such a great experience. Fair enough, there have been stressful moments, however, I have learnt from them and that's what's important.

Aside from the events that I am looking forward to being at, although it's not volunteering, I'm looking forward to being up to date with work and hopefully doing really well in the exam that I sat last week. I should find out on Tuesday. As much as looking forward to work sounds weird, I like working towards something and seeing the end product. Plus, it means I can concentrate on the next bit of work. It's the BIG one.

The other day, without much to do and wondering what to do for the final few hours of my voluntary challenge, although it may now be almost a year old, I watched the speech at vInspired Live by Terry Ryall, the CEO. I may have seen it many a time now, however, it's still as vInspiring as it was when I first saw it. In fact, at the first Team V residential, we had the privilege of meeting Terry and she is as nice as she seems on the video. 

To be honest, without vInspired, I doubt that I would be sitting here with 300 hours of volunteering under my belt. This is an amazing achievement for me and I would like to Thank vInspired for giving me that opportunity to not only get recognition for my volunteering but also keeping encouraging me on the days when I didn't really feel like doing voluntary work. Okay, I may not have reached my target in getting to 300 hours by the end of February 2014, however, it didn't take me too long to reach it.

Hence, from Monday 10th March, I will be raising money for vInspired by running, cycling and walking 300 miles in 150 days. This, in reality, is only two miles a day but it's still a challenge in a way. If you would like to sponsor me (please do), please visit my sponsor page here. I will put the page to track my progress up soon but I need the sponsors as well. My target is £300. I want to give something back to a charity that has given me so many great opportunities.

Overall, it should be good but busy next week, however, as I always say, it's better being busy than bored. I needed to get to 300 hours and this should cover my last hour of the challenge. I did it (9 days late but oh well). That's why they call it a challenge. Once revealed, I will also be doing a post on the third and final Team V campaign so keep a look out for that next Sunday. As always, everyone is wanting it to be a certain subject but the likelihood is that it won't be any of those. It's always a good challenge though. If it wasn't, we wouldn't learn anything, would we? What would be the point? 

To mark my 300th volunteering hour... read on and find out what I will be doing

As you know, over the last month or so I have been aiming to reach 300 hours of volunteering. I am currently on 296 and will hopefully reach the target by Monday 10th March. To mark the occasion, in a week that I am really looking forward to, I will start a challenge to reach 300 miles walking, running or cycling over the next 150 days (starting on the 10th). If you have been reading my other blogs, I think you will know what I meant about the week I am looking forward to but for those who haven't, it is the week where there is not only the final Team V Residential but also the Vibe Awards, in which my girlfriend and volunteer has won an award. I will cover that more next week.

Back to the subject of my challenge, given it is to mark my 300th volunteering hour, I will be doing this challenge in aid of vInspired and yes, you guessed it, will be aiming to raise a pound for every hour I have done to that date. vInspired, both through Team V, other volunteering and their various programs, give young people in the UK such valuable opportunities to make a change and gain experience that many employers are looking for these days. This is why I think that it is a great charity to raise money for and when I get the sponsor page up and running, I'm hoping some of you might sponsor me. My target is to raise £300 and you can kind of work out why. 

In 2012, I set myself the challenge of doing 2012 miles in 2012 which was a challenge that many were doing, however, I didn't reach it. I may have raised money but I didn't reach it. The fact is, it was unrealistic but I think that doing 300 miles in 150 days is a much more realistic target. Who knows? I might reach it before the 150 days ends (on August 6th 2014). That would be a great achievement and I would be happy to have raised some money for a charity that I care about and has given me so much over the last few years. It's the least I could do to give something back. 

I bet, at the moment, you are thinking that this challenge will be easy, however, the likelihood is that I won't meet targets every day and this will make it harder but also enough of a challenge to raise some decent money. Plus, hopefully I should have plenty of support. Unfortunately, I cannot take offline donations but I will post the link to my page on Monday and you can sponsor me that way. 

Overall, I think that it will be good to give something back but also it will be interesting to see how I do in my challenge. If you would like to track my progress, I will also post that page up when I have it running (on the other hand, should that be running, cycling and walking). I hope you will support me and please keep checking back for an update on how I am doing.