HFVC wins lottery jackpot

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Money from the Big Lottery Fund will be used in training

The Hammersmith & Fulham Volunteer Centre (HFVC) enjoyed an especially upbeat AGM on Friday night after learning that it had been awarded £247,950 by the Big Lottery Fund.

The HFVC, which regularly uses its annual general meeting to host a dinner-dance for volunteers, staff and local dignitaries, was this year joined at the event by special guest speaker Paul Torrisi of BBC TV’s The Apprentice as it unveiled the Big Lottery cheque that will help to fund volunteering opportunities for 400 young people in the borough over the next three years.

The Big Lottery Fund is an amalgamation of two former initiatives, the New Opportunities Fund and the Community Fund. The money awarded to the HFVC will be spent on 16-24 year olds, including students, unemployed young people, youth offenders and people who are at risk of social exclusion. The 400 volunteers will have the opportunity to take part in a range of activities depending on their interests, including sports coaching, hospital visits, youth work, event organising and the befriending of young refugees and asylum seekers, for which they will receive training and accreditation. The HFVC youth officers will also support 30 unemployed volunteers to move into employment or further training, and organise 12 'community challenges' in conjunction with the local business community.

Over the last 4 years the HFVC has worked with over 600 young people and has contributed over 55,000 volunteering hours to the community. The young volunteers have painted murals at local primary schools, taken part in a British Red Cross project to befriend young refugees recently arrived in the area, and given up their time to help out at borough events such as the Masbro Carnival, the NDC North Fulham carnival and the Hammersmith & Fulham Festival.

Aneta Grzeskow, from West Kensington, is one young person who has benefited from HFVC’s youth volunteering initiatives, having taken up a voluntary work placement through the Youth X-Press scheme at the Novotel London West in Hammersmith, and later been offered a permanent job there. “Youth X-Press helped me develop my skills and gave me so much experience,” says Aneta. “Working at the Novotel has been a fantastic opportunity and I couldn’t believe it when I was offered a job. I’m looking forward to learning more.”

Marion Schumann, HFVC director, says: “This award from the Big Lottery Fund will make a massive difference to the level of support and assistance that we can offer to young people in the borough. Here at the HFVC it is one of our primary goals to get young people involved in voluntary work and to make them aware of the benefits that can be gained from volunteering, not least the opportunity to develop new skills and levels of experience. We hope to use this funding to establish a culture of volunteering across the borough, with young people showing a commitment to the community right through their adult lives.”

Cllr Dame Sally Powell, chair of Regenasis and Hammersmith & Fulham cabinet member for regeneration, says: “I’d like to congratulate the Hammersmith & Fulham Volunteer Centre on this award from the Big Lottery Fund, which shows how successful the centre has been at working with young people and how well-respected it is on a national level. This grant caps a really memorable year for the HFVC, in which they have built on their aim of reaching out to local residents by moving into spacious and accessible new premises at 148 King Street. I do hope that even more members of the public, young and old alike, will drop in to the centre and find out how they too can benefit from volunteering.”

Local residents and businesses can find out more about volunteering by contacting the HFVC on 020 8741 9876 or visiting the centre at 148 King Street (entrance on Galena Road).

September 18, 2005