Last week was LSE Student Volunteering Week 2023! The goal of Student Volunteering Week was to celebrate the fantastic volunteering students do in their local and wider communities. To put on a proper celebration, our LSE Student Volunteering Ambassadors organized multiple opportunities for recognition and acknowledgement around the greater theme of Inclusion, with each day reflecting a different sub-theme.

“My favourite part about SVW was working with the rest of the team, using all our different talents and interests, to come together and create what turned out to be a brilliant week! It was also fantastic to see such an active reception to all the week’s events, after all the preparation that went into it”

– Mary Ann Macdonald, Student Volunteering Ambassador

From hosting various charities on campus to talking about how London might be considered a national park, we consider the week a great success and want to talk more about the highlights from each day!

On Monday, we focused on Mental Health, specifically how we can create spaces that help student volunteers decompress and develop healthy habits. To do so, we hosted a yoga and wellness and arts session, in which students were encouraged to relax and get creative. A key part of developing inclusive environments within the charity sector and volunteering is to also create space for rest and decompression.

Tuesday, we hosted London as a National Park City Foundation a charity led by the insight of the National Park City Foundation, which is a “steward of the global movement supporting other cities all around the world on their journey towards becoming National Park Cities.” Floree Zama-Neagra joined us from the Foundation and told students all about how they can get involved in the fantastic volunteering roles offered by the organisation; these roles allow for volunteers to gain experience on their creative, digital, organising, or learning & research teams. If you weren’t able to make it to this information session but want to get involved in their work, visit their page on volunteering for further guidance!

A community-favorite one-off event, on Wednesday we held a Knitting for Syria session, where students had the opportunity to learn how to knit a square for a blanket to make a difference in the lives of internally displaced individuals or to help children in Syrian hospitals. We are always incredibly happy to host novice to advanced knitters at these sessions with the hope that everyone had fun!

On Thursday we hosted another one-off volunteering event, Writing Letters to Refugee and Immigrant School Students, which was in collaboration with Salusbury World. We held this in the Alumni Centre and students were encouraged to write letters of advice in response to questions sent in by school pupils of varying ages who are beneficiaries of the charity. Thursday was also LSE Global Day of Volunteering, an occasion supported by the Alumni Centre to further celebrate and promote volunteering in our community!

Finally, we hosted an information session about how to volunteer with Childhood Trust. Childhood Trust is a charity dedicated to alleviating the impact of poverty on children and young people living in London. If you missed this session but would like to volunteer with them, please visit Childhood Trust’s page on volunteering opportunities for more information!

While this certainly doesn’t entail everything that took place during Student Volunteering Week, it does offer a peak into the wonderful events our Student Volunteering Ambassadors put together. Hear from the Volunteer Centre Manager, David Coles, in his reflections:

“I’m so proud of our Student Volunteering Ambassadors for the incredible week they organised to celebrate the volunteering undertaken by LSE students. Our research shows that over 50% of undergrads, and 40% of students overall, will volunteer during their time at LSE – an army of volunteers.

They mentor young people, support those at risk of homelessness, run student societies, reach out to combat loneliness in elderly people, empower women and girls across the world, recycle food that would be wasted, act as consultants for charities, coach football, relate to refugees and offer their services in many other ways. They do this everyday, often without recognition, because they are passionate about making London, the UK and the world a better place.

If this spirit of volunteerism at LSE isn’t something to be proud of, and thankful for, then I don’t know what is. I hope you’ve all had a wonderful Student Volunteering Week, I’m already looking forward to next year.”

The LSE Volunteer Centre echoes David’s sentiments and we always hope to offer support and guidance to student looking to volunteer.