When joining Durham, a lot of students look to participate in volunteering and charity work. There are many ways to do this through personal expeditions and fundraisers, developing a sustained volunteering relationship with a local initiative, or other outreach events on a large or small scale. The responsibility of the Outreach team is to look after the college’s charity and volunteering pursuits. Our aim is to boost student involvement in community initiatives, to enrich college lives, and provide various activities and events to raise money for charity.

Through collaborations with societies and sports, we aim to encourage involvement with fundraising, with initiatives such as bake sales, Movember, 24-hour matches, and music nights. Other ways raising money will be integrated into life at John Snow is through long-standing traditions such as valentine’s roses at the formal, and food bank collections within college.

This year, Outreach will be focussing on fundraising for local, North-East-based charities, so that students can feel a deeper connection with the local area, and see the impact of their efforts more clearly.

We are championing sustained volunteering and community spirit through our intercollegiate Sherburn House partnership shared with Stevenson College. This intergenerational project is centred around bringing people together, and is something we are really proud of at Snow as it allows students and elderly people alike to develop meaningful connections.

As well as this, we offer other fun events and projects, such as volunteer dog walking, beach cleaning, and charity formals. We believe that giving back to our community should be fun and meaningful and, as well as our own plans, we are always open to any ideas or initiatives you may be passionate about and we hope to see many new faces engaging with this year’s projects.

Outreach is an amazing way to immerse yourself within both the college and local community, and it is really exciting to start a fresh year with a wide range of events and initiatives.

AMELIA WALL, OUTREACH OFFICER