Volunteers’ Week is a time to say thank you. In a year that has been as challenging as this one has been, we are so grateful for our volunteers who have given over 1000 hours of their time since last April. Our volunteers have been supporting students and clients in a range of ways, including tutoring children and young people online in a range of subjects; mentoring adults one-to-one in their employment specialisms; and facilitating Interview Skills Days, where corporate volunteers work with our employment clients to build confidence in the interview process. We’re shining the light on some of our volunteers in recognition of their fantastic contributions to ClementJames. They truly make such a difference.
My mentor meetings are probably my favourite part of coming here because I can talk to my mentor about everything. I tell him about areas I am succeeding in and we also look at ways in which I can improve.
Yusuf, Academic Support student
Read about some of our volunteers and find how they have been involved with our programmes:
Tracey Foster, Adult Mentor
I really enjoy mentoring at The ClementJames Centre and see myself as a work in progress, learning something new each day.
Tracey has been a part of our Adult Mentoring team for over two years now and has supported clients with their employment goals and confidence. Tracey leads on Local Flood Plans Reform in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. From July 2017 to September 2018 Tracey was Policy Lead for the Voluntary Sector in the Grenfell Victims Unit at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, responsible for overseeing the emergency government support to the North Kensington voluntary sector. Tracey worships food, all things cooking and eating out and enjoys writing blogs on travel.
Denys Firth, Volunteer Tutor
Denys has been volunteering with The ClementJames Centre for over three years, and recently he has helped two students achieve over a year’s progress! Denys studied Maths and Physics at Oxford University, having been inspired early on in these subjects by his father. Later, he was lucky to have two fantastic teachers at school who trained him very well for his exams! Apart from tennis, his main hobby is music. He loves studying the connection between maths, physics and music.
Denys has lived in Kensington and Chelsea for most of his working life apart from some years in Hong Kong where he was involved in helping family-run companies invest and expand.
Find out more about volunteering.
Ryan O’Keefe, Adult Mentor
Our Adult Mentoring programme pairs people looking to achieve a goal with experienced mentors. Ryan, one of our newest members of the Volunteer Team recently joined the programme offering 1 to 1 support to an employment client.
As a global communications leader and managing director at BlackRock, Ryan’s expertise and passion for educational charities really shines through and makes such a difference to those he supports.
Grace Connaughton, Volunteer Psychology Tutor
This is my first time tutoring anyone and I can honestly say that it is one of the highlights of my week. Riga is a lovely, bright girl who the team at The ClementJames Centre have matched me up with perfectly. The team at ClementJames have been exceptionally helpful and kind with regular check-ins to see how I’m doing. The feedback has been invaluable and doing this has made me consider a career in teaching.
Grace joined us this year, trail-blazing a new role – psychology mentor! She has been working closely with a student who is studying for an MSc in Psychology.
Find out more about volunteering at ClementJames.
We are so thankful for the knowledge, skill, and time volunteered by our wonderful Volunteer Team and are so grateful for the passion and dedication they have shown this year. Thank you once again!