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City of Bristol College students support charities and local community

From fundraising for Ukraine to volunteering with local community groups, lots of our students spend their free time carrying out meaningful and thought-provoking tasks.

We have been supporting the nationwide Good For Me, Good For FE campaign which supports and promotes our staff and students participating in voluntary work. The campaign aims to highlight the social value which can be created through volunteering, and support staff and students in FE settings to get involved.

A recent survey of 80 students showed 37% of the participants carry out between two to four hours of volunteering each week with up to 400 hours completed by the students each week in total.

We have already been celebrating the efforts of our staff members who dedicate hours of their time to volunteering each week and we are now celebrating some of the work of our students!

Sunflowers for Ukraine

Our Health and Fitness students partnered up with our Floristry students at our South Bristol Skills Academy to cut, wrap and sell sunflowers to raise money for those fleeing the conflict in Ukraine.

The floristry students cut and wrapped the individual sunflowers before handing the buckets over to the sport students to walk around the centre to sell the flowers, with both students and staff picking up a flower to show their support.

ESOL students join gathering for refugees

Earlier this week, some of our ESOL students joined a gathering on College Green to highlight the plight of refugees around the world, including those fleeing the conflict in Ukraine.

They carried orange hearts to represent compassion for people fleeing war and persecution. Inspired by the refugee national flag, and the colours of a lifebelt, the heart symbolises hope and kindness.

Some of our ESOL students have come to us as refugees or asylum seekers so, to some of these students, this is an especially significant cause.

To support our fundraising efforts for Ukraine, visit our JustGiving page.

Access student volunteers for suicide prevention charity

Access to Social Work student Rachael, aged 48, volunteers one to twice a week for Suicide Prevention Bristol with both patrolling and helpline.

Her key responsibility is to hold face-to-face or over the phone conversations with someone who is feeling suicidal.

She said: “I like volunteering as you can give something back but also voluntary work is about quality not quantity. Volunteering can give you confidence, lift your self-esteem as well as raise your profile on your CV. It can help you to choose your career path without being tied to a contract.”

Volunteering for the charity has helped Rachael establish that she would like to carry on with her preventative work in her career after finishing college.

Vice Principal, Corporate Services and External Relations, Joanne Ward, said: “Colleges like ours play a vital role in the diverse local communities we serve, transforming people’s lives through education and training. As Bristol’s college we welcome people from across the City and beyond, and see first-hand the support local people need. Joining the Good for Me, Good for FE campaign is enabling us to showcase the great work our students and staff already do to help people in so many ways. There have been lots of activities at the College and many more planned for the rest of the academic year.”

Are you a student who is volunteering at the moment? Tell us all about it by emailing marketing@cityofbristol.ac.uk

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