ITV Fixers are having an open day!

ITV Fixers is a media campaign aimed at 16-25 year olds. It is designed to give young people the opportunity to ‘fix’ something they are passionate about in a new and creative way! They help people to make films, website's, hold events, poster campaigns..... the list is endless as long as it can make a difference and benefit at least one other person. In the past groups have tackled issues such as, homelessness, mental health, equestrianism and healthy living.

On the 2nd September they are opening their offices to youth workers, organisations and young people to come along and get a taste of what we do!

Offices will be open between 10am and 3pm so feel free to drop in anytime. Staff will be on hand to show people around, give an introduction to what ITV Fixers is and show off some of the projects other young people have done. Their creative resources team will be around to show some of the behind the scenes stuff from the film making, design and website projects!

Santa Abseil

The Percy Hedley Foundation are organising a sponsored Santa Abseil and are looking for people to take part.

It’s a 156ft abseil (in Santa suits) down the bell tower of Newcastle Civic Centre on 12th December.

The money raised will go towards their appeal to build a new hydrotherapy centre for disabled children and adults in the North East.

Santa suits will be available on the day and might even help to keep the cold out a bit!

Cooking Together Project promotes healthy eating across Sunderland. It is run by the Sunderland City Council Facilities Management.

The project is looking for volunteers aged 18 plus to be Community Food Leaders (CFLs). Working in pairs, the CFL will lead the delivery of cooking clubs to children and their parents, focusing on the 8-11 year age range.

They will organise and carry out fun and interactive sessions with children and their families, promoting healthy eating by giving healthy lifestyle messages.

Volunteers will carry out basic cooking demonstrations and ensure that they are carried out in a healthy and safe manner.

The project will begin in October with trainig taking place in September.  Any one interested will need to be able to committ 5 sessions whihc last 2 hrs each. The closing date to express and interest is the first week in September.

Sunderland Volunteer Life Brigade provides service to people who use the city’s port, harbour and beaches. Founded in 1877 was to assist HM Coastguard in saving life from shipwrecks The Brigade has since evolved to offer a range of services to meet modern day requirements.

Sunderland VLB is based in Roker at the Watch House on Pier View. As the name suggests the members of the Brigade are all volunteers and is run on voluntary donations and fundraising events

There are four main areas to the Brigade’s work each requiring different abilities, skills, knowledge and training. Currently they are recruiting Coast Watch Volunteers. This entails providing a coast watch service and alerting any of the coast guards of anyone needing assistance, some clerical work is also involved. Volunteers need no special skills as all necessary training is provided.

The Brigade also run a Museum for which volunteers are also needed. Duties would include helping with the general running of the museum, and assisting and guiding visitors. Volunteers may be requested to attend one-off weekday events if available. If interested in this opportunity volunteers should have the ability to deal with the general public and an interest in the sea and cliff rescue.

Royal National Institute for the Blind is the UK's leading charity offering information, support and advice to almost two million people with sight loss.

Three thousand RNIB volunteers are involved in stopping people losing their sight unnecessarily, supporting more people to live independently, and creating an inclusive society sooner for everyone. Volunteers are involved in many different projects.

You can make a difference in your local community by ensuring money donated by the public into our iconic Sooty boxes is collected on a regular basis from local shops, pubs and leisure centres.

Volunteers should have good communication skills and be friendly, confident and outgoing. A full driving licence is needed, the use of a car will be an advantage although alternative arrangements may be looked at on an individual basis. Duties will include carrying money to the bank and sometimes this could be heavy.

Good organisational and planning skills are necessary together with a good knowledge of the local area. Volunteers need to be able to use their own initiative and be happy working on their own whilst knowing they are part of a team.

Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity

Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity provides an individually tailored, high quality service to families when their child has a life threatening or terminal illness.

Established in 1986, they now support around 1,000 families every year offering emotional and practical help to the whole family through eight teams of Family Support Workers. Here in the North East they have a team of 5 Family Support Workers.

The organisations aim is to maintain a sense of normality, and keep families together by ensuring support is provided not only for the sick child, but also anxious parents, grandparents and worried brothers and sisters.

They offer support at any stage of illness, from diagnosis, during treatment and throughout bereavement, up until the family feel that they can cope without support, this can sometimes be for several years after the child has died.

How you can help

Currently they are only able to support 10% of the families who have a child with a terminal illness. This means there are still thousands of families they cannot afford to help. The vision is that one day all terminally ill children and their families will have access to a Rainbow carer.

The Trust relies almost entirely on voluntary donations to maintain the high quality of service. They want to make a difference … can you help?

To find out more on how you can help come and meet your local fundraiser on Tuesday November 23rd at the Blue Bell (Fulwell), Fulwell Road, Sunderland. SR6 9AD from 1.30pm

Collectors Needed

• Collections Co-ordinator: We need enthusiastic and well organised people to recruit and co-ordinate volunteers for various collections.
• Collector:  We are looking for volunteers to collect at supermarkets and various other locations listed below:

Tesco’s - Friday 15th and Saturday 16th October 2010

Morrisons - Monday 29th November to Sunday 5th December 2010

Sunderland Stadium of Light – Sunderland v Everton game 20th November 2010

Please let us know if any of these days you would be interested in by getting in touch on the contact details below.