It was great to hear about all of the amazing accomplishments Leeds Beckett students have made through volunteering, whilst balancing their studies at university during this tough year.
Gina and Melissa were both shortlisted for
‘Volunteer of the Year’, and unfortunately due to some tough competition they missed out on the award.
However, they were also nominated for another award, 'Event of the Year', which they won! We are so proud of them for everything they achieved with their "Charity Chatter" event, and think this award was incredibly well deserved.
Gina joined us when we needed extra support to keep our social media platforms updated. The pandemic meant that along with our website this was a vital channel to keep in contact with our community, supporters, ambassadors, volunteers and those who needed our support. Gina took on the role of managing our
YBTC LinkedIn account, posting regularly about the research we continue to fund, exciting developments and reminding our corporate supporters and business that their support was as important as ever. When the pandemic hit we had to hold recruitment for a full time marketing officer, and without Gina’s support we would not have been able to sustain the information on all our social media and reach out to new audiences.
Melissa joined us at the same time and has been a great support to our small fundraising and support teams. She has helped us with research, admin and her experience with children has given us brilliant input into developing our children’s activity pack. Her enthusiasm to help wherever she can has been so welcome by everyone. When we needed an extra pair of hands to sort through all the generous donations to our charity shop after the third lockdown, Melissa made time in between her dissertation, part time job and applications for further education to come and help us.
So, we want to say a huge thank you to them both.
Sophie Moody, Volunteering & Community Engagement Coordinator at Leeds Beckett University said: Thanks for nominating them, they are super!
We certainly think they are!