Superstars: Cleaning Up The Environment
Social action projects are a massive part of your NCS experience. From raising funds to raising awareness, motivating others to making an impact, you choose so many different topics and different ways to turn your passions into action. Something you’re all passionate about is the environment - whether that’s big scale climate action, or ways to make your local community environment the best it can be. Here are two teams that helped clean up their community environments…
TEAM BRAINTREE
Ella and the rest of Team Braintree wanted to embrace their community and raise money for local charity, Essex and Herts Air Ambulance. Ella said, “There are lots of gorgeous walks to take local to us, and we noticed that people enjoyed all the gardens, but disliked the amount of litter around”. This realisation set the team into action, and they organised a litter-pick around all the public gardens in the area. They spent a whole day picking litter and filled five bags! Then, they took on a sponsored walk. “We aimed to do the same amount of steps as missions our charity has completed, which is around 28,000” Ella explained. Team Braintree took leaflets and posters into the town centre to raise awareness and support for the charity, and to raise funds for their walk, before completing the 28,000 step - or 14 mile - walk. Amazing!
TEAM NATURE HEALTH
In Surrey, Honor and Team Nature Health wanted to do something for the more vulnerable people in the community. Honor said, “The elderly have been most affected in terms of mental health by the pandemic, and we felt it was so important that we did what we could to change this.” And so the team thought of ways to raise money for Age UK Surrey, and give back to a local residential home. To raise funds, the team held a bake sale, picked up litter in green spaces and streets around their community, and completed a 200K challenge, where they all covered a distance of 200KM between them through sponsored walking, running, swimming, and climbing. The money raised was split between Age UK Surrey, and Pilgrim Woods Residential and Dementia Home. Team Nature Help then spent two days volunteering at the home where they contacted local garden centres, and got three plant nurseries donated, full of wonderful blooms! They helped plant the flowers and other plants and spruced up the area, giving the residents a colourful, safe, outdoor space to enjoy. Lovely!
WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE WHERE YOU ARE?
Want to carry out some social action in your community but aren’t sure where to start? Take a look at a Changemaker group near you...
And if you’ve already taken part in a social action project that you’re proud of, let us know! Tell us all about it here.
