Suzy Sankey

For Suzy Sankey, 23, from Wigan, the importance of giving back was enforced by her strict Irish catholic upbringing. At the age of eight, and with the help of her mum and members of her parish, Suzy set up SOCHDOC (St Oswald’s Community Helping Develop Overseas Communities). The organisation have fundraised to send building supplies and provide wages for builders and teachers in the developing world, providing schools for children who didn’t have a school in their community. The have managed to raise over £50,000 despite only being small, and after Suzy, the youngest person in the group is her mum, who is 58.

“Without each other, the charity wouldn’t be able to continue and I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved so far, with such a small group of volunteers.”

As well as her work with the parish, Suzy also joined the charity LeSallian Developing World Projects, which saw her at the age of 17 going to Africa with 11 strangers to work on physically building a classroom for six weeks.

“You were supposed to be 18 to go on a project, however, I was determined that I could do it, and so Brother John, the Monk who organises the trips, allowed me to go. I had never been abroad before so it was incredibly daunting and terrifying, and a huge culture shock.”

As well as her work for both SOCHDOC and Lesallian Developing World Project, Suzy recently raised £1900 for Macmillan Cancer Care and Wigan Cancer Centre, after her mother received treatment for breast cancer there. She did this by running a 10k and a fundraising.

Having spent her life helping children in her community as a children’s nurse, Claire Bowe, 58, decided that to celebrate her retirement she would help children further afield. Claire joined the charity Bamboo on their two countries/two projects initiative.

Claire Bowe

“I loved their philosophy, and I love travelling but really liked the idea of combining that with giving something back which seemed more like worthwhile tourism,” she said.

Her trip saw her travel to Thailand to work with elephants in a mahout village. The elephants were once used for logging but when this became illegal, the mahouts still needed to feed and care them as the elephants could not be sent to the wild because they had grown accustomed to the village.

Next Claire went to Cambodia to teach schoolchildren English, as it is vital for a future job.

“It has inspired me to do more tourism that gives something back so I am going to Costa Rica next year to work with the turtle project then India the year after to work with elephants and sloth bears.”

Jess Grieveson-Smith

After being diagnosed with complex epilepsy at the age of 11, Jess, 21 from North Yorkshire, was determined to not let it hold her back. Despite taking doctors 8 years to stabilise her medication, Jess was still able to complete a Madagascar trek with the charity Young Epilepsy. Jess worked with the charity for years, volunteering as a hospital radio presenter where she presented a weekly show. She also helped children learn to read at special needs schools. In 2014, she was awarded the Young Star award after she completed The World Challenge in Madagascar.

The World Challenge involved trekking into the rainforest, to a vulnerable community – where she stayed with them and helped build a school for the local community.

“The preparation before this was incredibly difficult as I had to get my fitness to the top level I could, despite still being heavily dependent on medication and suffering the side effects. However, I wanted to prove that my condition couldn’t limit me. I completed successfully and now am making my final year documentary alongside Young Epilepsy.”

Rebecca Atherton

Despite all the great volunteering opportunities in third world countries, there is plenty that you can do help your local community. Becky, 34, from Birkenhead, has been working as co-ordinator for Oxton based group Secret Gardens, for the last two years. Secret Gardens is a one-day event where people with unusual and beautiful gardens open them to the public for viewing in order to raise money for three local charities. The group have nine different charities that they help on a rolling system, the 2018 charities are Sundowns, a charity for downs syndrome, Woodland Folk, an education movement for young people and the Vikes, a Wirral based youth centre.

Secret Gardens charge for the tickets and have refreshment stalls, where local stores donate all the goods. The 2017 Secret Garden event raised an impress £25k.

“I like the idea of community spirit and feel this is something lacking in our generation so thought stop moaning start moving. I think young people need to take more time to think of the people less fortunate than them and start donating their time to help.”