Volunteering, fundraising and outreach have always been a central component to college life at Trevelyan. Trevelyan is extremely community-minded. Our students do lots of excellent work in outreach, volunteering, and fundraising. We have an elected student Outreach Officer, who coordinates volunteering opportunities, and an elected Charities Officer, who heads our Charities Committee.
Over 50 student and staff volunteers from Trevelyan College visited the Durham Coast to take part in a beach cleaning activity. The group helped the local economy by picking up litter making the beach a safer environment, and saving the marine animals from potential danger.
In November 2022 we launched our Christmas donation drive for the food bank charity Feeding Families.
The Christmas Wish Tree was set up on The Cobbles which had tickets with items from the charity's 'wish list', and students could take a tag and make a donation in the box provided. We filled two large boxes which totalled over 100 individual items donated.
I personally want to work in the third sector, as I really enjoyed volunteering when I am in university and want to continue that in areas that I am interested in! Volunteering is perfect for me because I can get to know the sector and decided whether this kind of work is the right one for me. Even if I eventually decide to go into a different sector, the contacts and experience that volunteering has brought is more than enough rewards in itself!
Read Lijie's student blog
Outreach work in the local community is a great way to give back. Our students volunteer in local schools, coordinate foodbank deliveries, and coach sports teams. Whether you want to volunteer on a regular or more casual basis, there are plenty of projects to get involved with.
If you have accepted an offer to study at Trevs and are interested in exploring volunteering opportunities, please fill in our Volunteering Opportunities Form. Volunteering projects can take a while to establish and we want to make sure that we have suitable projects developed for all our incoming volunteers. You are under no obligation to volunteer for the resultant projects.
If you are interested in volunteering please contact our College Office via trevelyan.collsec@durham.ac.uk.
Over the next few months I administered over 300 first doses and 50 second doses of the vaccine to those in my local community; not only was this incredibly rewarding but also provided a much needed break from endless online lectures! I also picked up some useful skills, getting to know the inner workings of a pharmacy and learning how to best accommodate people with disabilities.
Read Milo's student blog
Charity work is a key priority for Trevs. Our Charities Committee coordinates our charitable efforts, organising an impressive range of events including an annual Charity Ball. Whether your interests lie in fundraising, event organising, or something else, we’d love to have you involved.
The college jazz band, 'The Manglers', organised their third annual charity gig in March 2023 to raise funds for Durham Music Trust, an organisation that provides access to instrument lessons and music ensembles to children from all backgrounds across County Durham and Darlington. This year The Manglers celebrated their most successful charity gig, raising over £200 in one night.
The JCR Charity Committee organised the Trevelyan Charity Ball which took place at the Raddison Blu Hotel in March 2023. We raised £1700 for Johnathan's Voice, a charity which aims to reduce stigma associated with mental health issues.
Both the LGBTQ+ Society and LGBT JCR Welfare Representative have taken pride in their dedication to the community as a whole. The termly LGBT Bar Nights at Trevelyan which are hosted by the LGBT Society raise money for AKT, a charity supporting LGBTQ+ young people who are facing homelessness or living in hostile environments. For LGBT History Month, the LGBT Rep worked with Trevs Games Society and hosted a charity games afternoon, raising £80.10 for Mermaids, a charity focused on supporting transgender, nonbinary, and gender-diverse children and young people.
If you wish to be involved in volunteering and charitable work please contact our JCR president for more information trevelyan.president@durham.ac.uk.
In Michaelmas term 2020, one of the newly formed livers-in households – Household 14 – decided to collectively run a marathon along their landing whilst quarantining, to raise money for Help Musicians UK. This is an important cause for the household, as they were assigned their household based on a mutual love for music, and it is music which has kept them going. The charity works to support professional musicians from all genres, particularly in times of hardship. Support is needed now more than ever for this vital industry, as the pandemic has brought devastating impacts on The Arts, and many are facing unprecedented financial difficulty. Their story gained widespread attention, even making the BBC News headlines, providing much needed positivity in these challenging times. In total the Household raised an amazing £3,234 - thank you to the generosity of Trevs members past and present for your support.
In this role, I have been ringing lonely, isolated and vulnerable people, in order to offer them a listening ear and to signpost support for various things, such as how to access helpers who can get groceries and other medicines. Doing so has been a massively rewarding experience, not only as a way of chatting to people from across the country, but also as a reminder that a ten-minute phone call can make a massive difference to someone else’s day.
Read Zack's student blog
This experience has been one of the most rewarding things I’ve done and it’s made me respect and admire those who work in the NHS and healthcare even more. I would encourage everyone to volunteer at the vaccine centres if they are interested and get the vaccine when it becomes available to you!
Read Zoe's student blog
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