Luke’s Story
Luke Jenkins and Gwenda Thomas AM at the Neath Port Talbot CVS Volunteer Evening 2009
Hello my name is Luke Jenkins. I’m a 15 year old student at Glan Afan Comprehensive School. I live in Taibach, Port Talbot.
I’m involved in the Youth Opportunities Bank at Neath Port Talbot CVS. The Youth Opportunities Bank is a panel of young people who award grants of £50-£500 to projects and groups in Neath Port Talbot. I got involved in Y.O.B. through The Hideout in Port Talbot. A poster asking young people to get involved was displayed, so I put my name down.
The first thing we did as the new panel was to attend a training workshop in Carmarthen with another Youth Bank. We learnt a lot about how their Youth Bank was run and how they manage it. We did a number of exercises to help us work as a team and how to manage money. The training workshop was very helpful and we were given a copy of their application forms and guidance notes, to use to make our own.
I received a lot of support from staff at Neath Port Talbot CVS when the Y.O.B was being put together. They helped by taking us to the training workshop and by giving us information on how to set up our panel.
Volunteering with the Y.O.B has helped me gain helpful skills and meet new people. I also volunteer at my school with its Silver Surfers class, where we teach senior citizens in the community how to use computers. I also did my Work Experience at the Neath Port Talbot CVS office, which provided me with even more skills and knowledge of a working environment. I enjoyed my work experience so much, that I have been volunteering at Neath Port Talbot CVS throughout the summer to help out with a number of different things!
I hope to continue to Volunteer with the Y.O.B in the future, as I now know exactly how its run and how to decide which projects get the funding money. I also hope to continue the Silver Surfers sessions as this is a great club for everyone in the community.
