Leeds Action Projects
Action Bound
Each month we take young carers, and children who have siblings with disabilities, out for a well deserved Sunday of fun! Come join us for canoeing, dry slope skiing, theme parks, the pantomime and many more great action packed day trips.
Action Windsurfing
This is a collaborative project between Action and Leeds University Union's Windsurfing club. The project works with year 9 pupils from local high schools to teach them how to windsurf and help them progress to gain a Royal Yachting Association Stage 1 and 2 qualification. Through learning in groups, the young people will learn not only how to windsurf, but how to work in a team and support one another whilst learning. Volunteers will learn alongside the children, giving them support, encouragement and having fun. This project is open to complete novices, no previous watersports experience is necessary. Just an interest in trying something new and having fun. Volunteers must feel comfortable in water.
Bridge the Gap
Fancy spending an hour with someone older and wiser and brightening up their day? Come on bridge the gap and make the residents of a local care home very happy people. We go to the care home for an hour every Thursday in term time and volunteers are free to sign up whenever they want to come. We spend the first part playing bingo, followed by some dominos/card games and chatting. Be warned their are some very crafty bingo players and cheeky individuals! Bridge the Gap events will be put up online every monday so be sure to check then before all the places fill up! We welcome new volunteers all throughout the year so feel free to volunteer with us whenever you can!
Christmas Present Project
The Christmas present project 2010 was a huge success delivering presents to over 300 children around Leeds who woudn't otherwise be getting one. The project managed to raise over £450 from the bucket shake at fruity and the amazing raffle. Thanks go to everyone who donated money, raffle prizes, presents and the amazing discount at mothercare crowne point which helped us fill the remaining present orders once the donated ones had run out! Volunteers are needed in the run up to christmas to help fundraise, buy and wrap presents and deliver them to the children involved dressed as christmas elves! So check the events page next academic year and get involved! Less talk, more ACTION!
Easter & Summer Holidays
We take children from disadvantaged backgrounds aged 10-11 on a 5 day Residential to Silverdale, near Morecambe, for a week filled with fun activities including kayaking, rock climbing and trips to the ZOO!!! We need a team of enthusiastic volunteers to get involved with our residential project, including helping us organise the activities, planning of meals as well as our transport...there's a role for everyone! All volunteers are given training sessions before the holiday, so you'll have plenty of support. It's a chance to make a difference to children's lives as well as having an amazing experience with other volunteers :)
Green Streets
Green Streets is a ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ project run as part of the Leave Leeds Tidy initiative, aiming to limit the environmental impact of student changeover on the environment. We coordinate with all the student halls and over 8,000 homes in the local community, to take their unwanted goods to homeless shelters, hostels and refugee centers. We hold monthly free shops at the union, and need as many volunteers as possible to help sort and distribute items as well as run our free shops. With volunteers getting first dibs on what’s there, why not come and help out on this multi-award winning project?
Hawksworth Project
The Hawksworth Project is a 3-day kids club based at Hawksworth Wood Children's Centre. The club is for children aged 8-11 years, and runs in the February and Easter half-term holidays. We cater for 10-15 children per project, and require 6 volunteers per day. Each day of the project leads up to a final performance for the children's parents, so we pack every day full of fun activities and games around a central theme, with a veiw to really educating and inspiring the children in the chosen topic. Join us for what promises to be an exciting, challenging, and rewarding project you will never forget!
Little London Crazy Club
Get another dose of arts, crafts and mischief with a group of lively 6 to 7 year olds at Little London primary school. After school, for a few hours a week, we play games, have fun, and make some brilliant artistic creations. From now on, to make it fair for everyone to sign up, we will be adding our sessions to the website on Mondays, usually 2 weeks in advance so check back each week to grab one of the limited spaces!
Older People's Tea Party
Tea Party Anyone? The Older People’s Tea Party, is an eagerly anticipated event that happens just once a year and sees around 150 older people descend upon the union for an afternoon of tea, cake and entertainment. It’s a great way to improve relations between students and older people from the surrounding community and great fun is had by all. We would appreciate any help towards food preparation, serving food and drink on the day and the all important clear up afterwards. You don't need to be CRB checked to help out. Sign up for this event on the EVENTS PAGE of the website and you won’t regret it!
Outdoor Mix
How does a weekend away supporting young people sound? Give some urbanites a chance to do some outdoor activities in the glorious English countryside. Get ready for cycling, climbing, caving, archery and chatting round the campfire. Go on, awe them with your wisdom, story-telling, and marshmallow-toasting skills!
Reach
We take young people aged 12-16 who have learning difficulties away for the weekend. We take them horse riding, swimming, cycling and on farm visits to name just a few of the exciting activities available. Volunteers act as a ‘buddy’ to one young person throughout the weekend, who they are especially responsible for, keeping an eye on them and helping them at meals and bed times. While having a fun filled weekend with a great bunch of kids, you also give their parents a well earned rest too!
Referrals
Action has strong links with other groups doing community based volunteering. Having referral projects allows us to offer a wider range of opportunities to our volunteers. If you volunteer on a referral project you are still an Action member and as such you still receive full support, you can gain accreditation and come along to all of the socials. There are lots more opportunities for you to get involved in the community; tell us what you are interested in and we will try and find the right placement for you.
Saturday Stars
Saturday Stars is a project which takes children aged 8-12 with a range of special needs and learning difficulties out on exciting trips and activities! It aims to run at least once a month, during the day on a Saturday. We've been to lots of places including swimming, visiting farms, going to plays, adventure parks and museums and exhibitions that are aimed for the children's enjoyment. Each volunteer is buddied up with one of the children, and it would be your responsibility to look after that child and to make sure they have as much fun as possible which usually ends up in you having a lot of fun yourself!
Sunday Sport
If you’re into sport then this one’s for you. You chose the sport you are interested in, we find the kids, then you teach them how to play! This is a great way to show kids how being healthy and fit doesn’t have to be a chore whilst benefiting the local community!
Venture
This is a new outdoor activities project for teenagers aged 14 to 17 who come from urban backgrounds in Leeds. We will be taking them with a group of volunteers away to places such as the Lake District and Peak District to pursue new outdoor challenges such as hiking, kayaking, rock climbing, mountain biking and more! The aim is to motivate young people to step outside their comfort zone, achieve new challenging goals and stretch their potential in the great outdoors.
Woodhouse Kids Club
Based in a local primary school, we provide an after school club for 5 to 7 year olds. It gives kids and volunteers a chance to get messy with some arts and crafts and silly with fun games. A great way to unwind after a hard days studying for students young and not so young!