News
Branching Out at The Cedar Foundation
Date Posted: Wednesday 16 June 2004
The "Branching Out" magazine, written by young disabled people for young disabled people, took first place in the recent NICVA Scope Communication Awards in the under 21 category and was overall winner in the small organisation category.
Four young people who are involved with The Cedar Foundation's Children and Young People's Services volunteered, through The Millennium Volunteer Programme, to create the magazine. These four young people were Claire McCambley from Bangor, Holly McClean from Newtownards, Craig Adams from Lisburn and Jacqueline King from Ballymena. They felt that by producing the magazine they would be able to benefit other young people with disabilities by sharing their experiences and giving others the opportunity to contact them, especially those in rural areas.
The group took the idea forward with great insight, enthusiasm and vision, knowing what they wanted to achieve and the sorts of people that they wanted to read the magazine. One of their main aims was to let other young people benefit from what they had already found out through personal experience and also to give young disabled people an opportunity to express themselves through the magazine.
Claire McCambley, speaking on behalf of the group said:
"This is a great opportunity for a group of young people with disabilities to express our issues and provide a platform for other similar young people. It's also providing us with a new range of skills and experience which we'll all benefit from in the longer term. We can really say that we?re all branching out."
They showed their initiative by applying to the You and Your Community Millennium Award?s Scheme for funding to help meet the costs of production and to let them produce a more professional magazine that they could distribute on a larger scale and so reach out to more young people.
Jean Campbell. Community Project Officer with The Community Foundation NI adds:
" I am delighted that "Branching Out" was so successful at the Scope awards. The You and Your Community Millennium Award Scheme offered small grants to individuals and groups to put their bright ideas into practice for the benefit of the community. "Branching Out" is a fantastic magazine and is a credit to the four young people who created it.
The group was facilitated by the Cedar Foundation's Millennium Volunteer Co-ordinator and supported by a keen group of parents. Marian Bryson Volunteer co-ordinator speaks very highly of them "the extent to which the young people showed their initiative in taking these projects forward, their teambuilding skills, planning and development, ownership, responsibility and enthusiasm clearly shows empowerment of the young people involved. These young people were a pleasure to work with. They came together as virtual strangers and worked as a team throughout. On every occasion they found something to laugh about and that's how it should be as, after all, volunteering should be enjoyable. I am delighted they have received these awards, they deserve recognition for all the hard work they put in to this project".
The Cedar Foundation is a delivery partner on the Millennium Volunteer Programme. This programme is sponsored by the Department of Education and its aim is to promote and recognise a sustained commitment by young people to voluntary activity that makes a clear impact on the community. Young people between the ages of 16-24 years are encouraged to volunteer and in particular to give something back to the community. In return for this commitment they are eligible to receive an award of excellence if they undertake 200 hours voluntary work, which is an excellent addition to any CV.
To find out more about the work of The Cedar Foundation log on to www.cedar-foundation.org, e-mail info@cedar-foundation.org or Tel: 028 9066 6188.
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