University of York students volunteered over 13,500 hours in the city during the 2021/2022 academic year through the Students’ Union!

Across the 2021/2022 academic year, students at York gave 13,560.5 hours of volunteering both on campus and in the city, creating positive change for residents and their fellow students

Across the 2021/2022 academic year, students at York gave 13,560.5 hours of volunteering both on campus and in the city, creating positive change for residents and their fellow students.13th-19th February 2023 is Student Volunteering Week and the University of York Students Union are celebrating the amazing work that students have done across the city.

Examples of how students have helped local residents of the city include the ‘Tea and Coffee club’, a group that invites older residents to campus for hot drinks and friendly company, a service they also continued during the Covid-19 Pandemic via phone and video calls. Other amazing groups include ‘All Should Eat’, a groups of students who collect food donations across campus and deliver it to food banks across the city.

One of our students Amy Mann recently founded Kathleen’s Legacy, as a way to honour her late grandmother and continue her work of knitting blankets for end of life palliative care patients. She was featured in Innocent Smoothies’ Big Knit campaign.

The union will also be celebrating past volunteers, for example Phil Martinez, who was the RAG (Raising and Giving) President in 1996-1997. His story will be featured in an upcoming blog post on the YUSU website, talking about how volunteering as a student “made my [his] life”.

Readers can find out more about the amazing work of student volunteers on the Union’s social media pages

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yorkunisu

Twitter: https://twitter.com/yorkunisu

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yorkunisu/

Quote from Rohan Ashar, Activities Officer from the University of York Students’ Union

“National Student Volunteering Week is a great opportunity to recognise and show the phenomenal work of our Volunteering Projects. These groups contribute so much to the community at university, in the wider city of York, and beyond. The 21 Volunteering Projects feature a range of unselfish aims and personal stories behind their endeavours, creating environments where the student volunteers are incredibly committed and make a really positive impact on those that they reach. From being the pinnacle of accessibility to receiving press coverage or awards on a national scale, our Projects represent us brilliantly and help York grow as an impressive hub for community Volunteering efforts.”