TESTIMONIALS

Morning Michelle & Dillon,

Hope your both well, and had a good weekend.

I just wanted to send an email of thanks to you Dillon & your detached work team for Friday nights session. You and the team were so welcoming, and we had some really engaging conversations with them around youth population and the factors affecting them. 

I honestly really enjoyed it, and felt the work your team does is a massive support service to our young people in the north east who could potentially be unsafe and vulnerable due to their previous consumption of alcohol or drugs before your team do some form of intervention.

I think how you/the team interact with young people was really positive. I know you felt Dillon it was quite a smooth night, I believe me & Liane did take a lot away from it.

I know I'd be certainly happy to interact more and support the team on more detached work in the future, so we can maybe sort this out in the near future.

Inspire Youth Tyne & Wear (formerly known as Playinnewcastle) was created by Pamela Gill following council budget cuts. 

The organisation is here to help and inspire young people throughout Tyne & Wear, by providing mentoring and a place for children and young people to socialise. 

With a team of 16 all originally from Tyne & Wear, and managers Pamela Gill and Leoni Roberts at the forefront, the not for profit organisation wants to emphasise its message of “enrichment beyond the classroom.” 

“A lot of young people are being forgotten about and lost in the system, we don’t even want to think about where these young people could have ended up or what they’d be doing,” explains 25 year old senior play and youth leader Dillon Wilson. 

When COVID-19 brought the UK and world to a standstill, Inspire Youth https://img1.wsimg.com/isteam/ip/89043701-9590-4158-bc9d-c2eb20f5660c/301480237_446184917486024_8260447740765390369_.jpg/:/cr=t:35.58%25,l:23.08%25,w:76.92%25,h:28.85%25/rs=w:600,h:300,cg:true,mwanted to continue to help the local community.

Charities Buying Group donated PPE to Inspire Youth so food banks and youth clubs could continue remotely. The donation included vinyl gloves, detergent wipes, face masks, visors, aprons, a non-contact thermometer, and hand sanitizer. 

Throughout the pandemic, Inspire Youth distributed over 4,000 food parcels across Tyne & Wear. “One of my most memorable moments working with Inspire Youth was providing food parcels to families across Newcastle,” recalls senior play and youth leader Dillon Wilson.  

The PPE donation enabled the charity to safely continue youth clubs on a smaller scale of 15 young people. 

“We needed PPE, so with the help of Charities Buying Group we were able to give the kids a fantastic summer before another lockdown,” explains senior play and youth leader Dillon Wilson. 

Once restrictions ease the charity is excited to welcome the youth of Tyne & Wear back into centres for a long overdue catch-up. With plans to provide more activities and specialised mentoring programmes. 

I have attended Inspire youth clubs and events since the age of 5. It started off with the regular youth club twice a week I gained a lot of my confidence from these clubs because I did not feel there was any judgement and I felt completely safe. I stayed at this club until I was 13 which then I joined a new group. 

All of the girls would be able to sit and talk about things which concern us at our age or  just have a chat. This session gives me something to look forward to or smile at even on my worst weeks which has helped me a lot during my hardest years of life.

 The two main staff at this club know me inside and out they are always there to talk to if something was worrying me or if I was generally just feeling a bit down, they spoke to us like we were young adults, which was really refreshing from being spoken to like a child.

When I turned 14, I started volunteering for inspire youth at Kenton and Fawdon because I was inspired by all the work I had seen the staff do throughout my life. 

I learnt so much in the first summer about all aspects of the business. From kids, to consent forms, to safeguarding and even data protection. I volunteered 5 days a week in the half term times whilst still attending my youth group. 

This opportunity inspired me to work as hard as I could to achieve what I wanted. It taught me some days you can be super stressed, but some jobs are so rewarding, I volunteered up until I was 16 which then I was offered a job with inspire youth. 

I also got a job at B&M’s, they said my cv was exceptional for my age this is because of all the volunteering. I was able to go into the interview confident and professional because I knew what a work environment was like already. 

I worked many fun days with inspire youth and soon learnt some new skills like how to face paint, handle crafts and glitter tattoos, not only were these events very educational they were also some amazing memories in which I will remember for the rest of my life.

Hi Michelle

Just to confirm, the stock is ready and waiting for you at the front of our store. Just speak to one of our colleagues on the customer service desk and they can get the trolley out for you.

Have fun with the allotment. It looks like a really great service you guys provide to the community. Youth work is so important, and it's wonderful to see it's still happening even in these difficult times. Best of luck to you, your colleagues and your volunteers from the whole team at Wickes.

Cheers.

 Hi, I just wanted to pass this on from the school about the club, they said it's fantastic and the kids love it, and whoever runs it needs a medal lol, so whatever you do with the kids keep doing it they love it.