Saturday 25th February 2012 kicks off  Student Volunteering Cardiff’s (SVC) Volunteering Week. As Wales’ biggest student-led charity, SVC presents a fun-filled week of one-off volunteering events and workshops designed for you to try something new and develop your CV! Each day will offer a different opportunity to give back to the Cardiff community from cleaning up a beach in the Vale of Glamorgan to a fundraising street collection in Cardiff city centre. End the week with a mini adventure with SVC and RAG’s Cardiff Jailbreak 2012 – 48 hours…no money…how far will you go?

Get involved! Do you want to boost your CV, meet new people and enhance your student experience? If so, please call the SVC office for more details on (029) 2078 1494 or pop into the office on the 3rd floor of the Students’ Union for a chat.

• Saturday 25th February 2012- Playground make-over at Birchgrove Primary School **CLOSED**
  Come and join our volunteers revamping a local primary school. Together we will be painting and updating their playground as a surprise for the children on Monday morning! We will be meeting in the Wii lounge (3rd floor, Students’ Union) at 9am before heading down to the primary school. It will carry on throughout the day but if you can only make it for the morning or afternoon just let us know. Check out the last playground make-over we did at Stacey Primary.

• Monday 27th February 2012 – Beach clean (day)
  Like volunteering outdoors? Why not volunteer on a short trip to Knap Beach in Barry (Vale of Glamorgan) and help to clean to beach whilst meeting new people! We will be meeting in the Wii lounge (3rd floor, Students’ Union) at 9am and heading down to Barry for 10am. We aim to be back in the Union for 1pm.

• Monday 27th February 2012- Employability workshop (evening)
  Interested in working in the third sector? Looking for tips about how to complete application forms, perform well in interviews or how to use your volunteering experience to sell yourself? Then sign up for this workshop! It will be run by a Human Resources Manager from a large third sector charity in Cardiff so if you have any questions about employment in the third sector come along! It will be a brilliant opportunity to enhance your employability skills. It will be held in the Gareth Edwards Room (4th floor, Students’ Union) from 5.30-7.00pm.

• Tuesday 28th February 2012 – OAP coffee morning **CLOSED**
  Come and spend a morning eating cake and drinking tea whilst chatting to some of our elderly friends. The event is being held in Cathays Methodist Church on Crwys Road from 9.30-11.30am. Take a look at the Christmas party we arranged in December.

• Tuesday 28th February 2012 – Dog walking (afternoon) **CLOSED**
  Help SVC walk some furry friends from the Cardiff Dogs Home. We will be meeting in the Wii lounge (3rd floor, Students’ Union) at 12.30pm and heading down together in a minibus. We aim to be back at around 3pm.

• Wednesday 29th February 2012 – Gardening project at Riverside Community Allotment
  Fancy volunteering for a day at a community allotment? We will be potting plants, clearing space for new allotments and picking produce to make an allotment soup! If you can only come for a few hours in the morning or afternoon, that’s fine – just let us know. We will be meeting in the Wii lounge (3rd floor, Students’ Union) at 10am ready to head down to the allotment for the day.

• Thursday 1st March 2012- Iorwerth Jones make-over **CLOSED**
  With the support of a local artist we are brightening up a local centre comprising of 3 mental health wards. We will be painting boards with different scenes and stories to put up in the mental health wards to make it more homely and comforting for the patients. We will be meeting in the Wii lounge (3rd floor, Students’ Union) at 9.30am before heading down to Iorwerth Jones together in a minibus. It will carry on throughout the day, but if you can only make it the morning or the afternoon just let us know.

• Thursday 1st March 2012 – Inspiration evening
  Local A-Level students, current Cardiff students and recent graduates will be joining together to share experiences and celebrate volunteering. The evening will be split into 2 parts:

4.30-6.00pm – Volunteers will welcome A-Level students, run tours of the Union and chat about all aspects of University life.

6.00-7.30pm – Stay on or join us at 6pm for talks from graduates about how they have benefitted from volunteering. They will share with you where they are now and how volunteering can be used in the future. UNA Exchange will be talking about voluntary opportunities abroad. Also, Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), New Links (an independent substance misuse organisation operating throughout Wales) and Victim Support (a national charity giving free and confidential help to anyone affected by crime) will be talking about possibly volunteering opportunities. They will all be bringing along existing volunteers to share their stories of volunteering.

• Friday 2nd March 2012 – JAILBREAK!!!
  For the first time ever we are holding Cardiff Jailbreak! In teams of 3-5, you will have 48 hours from 2pm on Friday 2nd March until 2pm Sunday 4th March to get as far away from Cardiff and back in that time………….but you can’t spend any money on travel! The event is being hosting in aid of raising money for our charity to help us carry on running our existing projects and help us to fund more one-off events within the local community. If you are interested please email jailbreak@cardiff.ac.uk or join our Facebook group – Cardiff Jailbreak 2012! Find out more on Facebook. The closing date for registration is Friday 24th February and places are limited so you need to move quickly. To sign up to take part you need to:

1) Register online at http://groups.cardiffstudents.com/rag/how-to-register/ and pay the £10 registration fee per person.

2) Submit a post-dated cheque for each individual taking part for the minimum sponsorship of £50 to the finance office (3rd floor, Students’ Union) made payable to Cardiff Students’ Union Jail Break.

• Sunday 4th March 2012 – Street collection in Cardiff City Centre
  Support SVC to collect money for our 35 valuable projects supporting the elderly, children, people with disabilities and the homeless. It will be held on Queen Street in Cardiff from 11am-4pm. We will be meeting in the Wii lounge (3rd floor, Students’ Union) at 10.30am and will head down together.

• Sunday 4th March 2012 – End of Volunteering Week social
  Have a few drinks, meet new people and reflect on the week’s activities.

If you are interested in any of the above then please call the SVC office on (029) 20781494 to sign up or pop into the office (3rd floor, Students’ Union).

RAG and SVC are joining forces to organise the first ever CARDIFF JAILBREAK!!! In teams of 2-5 you will have 48 hours to get as far away from Cardiff and back again as possible in that time! You will be tracked, raising money for SVC whilst having loads of fun and the adventure of a lifetime! What’s not to love? Get involved!!!!

Come along to the INFORMATION MEETING on Monday 30th January at 6pm in the Great Hall, Students’ Union to find out more and pass the word onto housemates and friends etc.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Cardiff-Jail-Break-2012/330899700254559?sk=info

SVC’s biggest event of the year is fast approaching – the Winter Ball! It is a huge thank you for all the hard work everyone puts into SVC and it’s an amazing night not to be missed!

For just £25 the night will include:

* Red carpet champagne reception
* 3 course hot fork buffet
* DJ and live music
* Photographer
* Raffle with amazing prizes!

The ball will take place on Sunday 4th December from 7.00pm in the 4 star Mercure Holland House Hotel on Newport Road. Anyone is welcome so feel free to bring flatmates, boyfriends, girlfriends, general friends… etc!

You can get your tickets NOW from the Students’ Union box office or online at http://shop.cardiffstudents.com/box-office/societies-events

Click here to see photos of the event.

The Huggard Centre’s Big Sleep Out is back! The Huggard Centre provides services to support the many homeless people living in Cardiff. In December they hold a sleepout in Cardiff to raise money for the work they do for homeless and vulnerable people. Find out more information about the Huggard Centre and the people they help here.

We would like to get as many of our own volunteers involved in this event as possible to experience what it is like to spend a night on the street whilst raising awareness and money for the Huggard Centre. If you are interested in getting involved please contact our fundraisers on fundraising@svcardiff.org for more information. You can download a sponsorship form so you can start raising money straight away. If you are not able to participate yourself but would still like to support the event by making a donation you can also contact the fundraisers using the email address above who will tell you what to do.

We would love to see as many of you there as possible to support this worthy cause. The sacrifice you will make by spending just one night on the street is not a lot compared to the experiences of those who spend every night on the streets and the money you will help to raise will make a huge difference to them.

http://huggard.org.uk/

This is your chance to get involved in SVC first one-off volunteering event of the year! We’re going to do a playground make-over at Stacey Primary School. This involves going to the school and painting murals on the walls and games on the floor. We have had donations of paints and brushes from local organisations and the Art Society have agreed to help out. The pupils are unaware that we are doing this and it will be revealed to them the following Monday morning when they arrive at school. The playground is completely grey at the moment so this will be a lovely surprise for them!

We are looking for volunteers who are enthusiastic, passionate and can dedicate their Saturday to helping us and the school out. SVC ‘Text to Give’ t-shirts are available to purchase to wear at the event and any other SVC volunteering you get involved with. There will be tea and biscuits available all day and you will be awarded with a certificate for participating in the event.

The event is due to take place on Saturday 26th November (weather-permitting). As there are limited spaces, we will take volunteers on a first-come-first-served basis. So if you are interested and can commit your Saturday to helping this worthy cause, please email our SVC Fundraisers on fundraising@svcardiff.org to secure your place!

Click here to see photos of the event.

SVC are holding a Pub Quiz! This is a great chance for you to get together with other volunteers from your projects to set up a team, giving everyone an opportunity to get to know each other…as well as proving your project is the best!!!

It only costs £1 to enter with all money going to SVC. There are prizes to be won and lots of fun to be had as this quiz has a twist!

The quiz is due to take place on Thursday 17th November 7.30-10.00pm in CF10 (1st floor, SU). If you want to set up a team please contact the SVC Social Secretary on social.secretary@svcardiff.org to enter.

The Crime Walkabouts will take place on the following dates:

* 4th October
* 5th October
* 11th October
* 18th October

Volunteers should meet in the TV lounge on the 3rd floor of the Students’ Union at 4.30pm and the Walkabouts should finish at around 6.30pm.

If you are interested, please contact the SVC office or pop in to register for a Walkabout.

The SVC Volunteering Fayre is your chance to find out about all the amazing volunteering opportunites SVC has to offer. You can register your interest in any of our projects, as well as chat to people who are already keen SVC volunteers. Each project will have coordinators who can fill you in on what their project is about and will inform you of any further meetings or training you need to attend.

Pick up your SVC Projects Guide on your way in to read about all of our different projects.

Can’t make the fayre? Make sure you pop into the SVC office 3rd Floor Students’ Union to find out about our opportunities!