Give Your Time To These London Charities

Rachel Holdsworth
By Rachel Holdsworth Last edited 114 months ago
Give Your Time To These London Charities

Sutton Community Farm

Ten local charities have been awarded £10,000 each from Team London, the Mayor's volunteering programme, to increase volunteering opportunities across London, particularly for young people.

If you want to get involved, or know someone else who'd like to, here's a quick run-down of the 10 charities and what they do.

Foodcycle

Foodcycle takes reclaimed surplus food and makes nutritious meals for vulnerable people. City Hall funds will go to its Community Cafe in Bromley-by-Bow which helps train 16-25 year olds in catering, customer service and hospitality. It's voluntary, but you'll get to learn skills at the same time as giving something back. If you're just hungry, pop in for some affordable grub between 8.30am-3.30pm — it's on St Leonard's Street.

Green Corridor

Heathrow might not conjure images of bucolic green spaces, but Green Corridor is turning an allotment into a space for wildlife. If you're between 14-25 and want to learn new skills while getting your hands grubby, have a look at the website to find out more.

TimeBank

This project concentrates on matching up mentors with mentees — it's a popular choice for companies who want to get their staff involved in some corporate social responsibility. Team London money is going towards matching business people with young people who have been in care. Want to be one of those mentors? Sign up.

The Maypole Project

Based in south east London, The Maypole Project helps support children with disabilities and complex illnesses, and their families. There's several ways you can get involved, including fundraising and helping in the shop as well as volunteering directly with the children. At the moment the charity is looking for people to help with sporting activities, and that's what City Hall is helping to fund.

The Hebe Foundation

The Hebe Foundation helps young people aged 13-20 discover talents in business and leadership through a series of fun and creative projects, like London's Next Top Role Model and Urban Debaters. Team London is backing a project to teach skills such as marketing, pitching, buying and selling.

Selfless

Selfless hooks up young people with skills to projects that need volunteers. The particular project that's being funded is London Health Ambassadors — training people to go and share health messages within hard-to-reach communities.

Sutton Community Farm

Starting in 2010, Sutton Community Farm turned seven acres of derelict land into a not-for-profit social enterprise that grows veg using organic principles. As well as plain old mucking in, they're looking for new Buddy Volunteers to support other volunteers with mental health problems and learning disabilities.

Wide Horizons

Using a nine acre wildlife site in south London, Wide Horizons offers the opportunity for disadvantaged children to learn new skills, take on a physical challenge and just have an adventure. It also aims to teach skills to young volunteers to help them find jobs.

Project Dirt

Another networking enterprise, Project Dirt allows community-based projects to connect with other people and showcase what they're doing. Find yourself a nice volunteering opportunity today.

Spacehive

If armchair support is more your thing, Spacehive is a community crowdfunding site. You never know, you might get so emotionally engaged in watching the money creep up that you'll go out and get actively involved as well.

Last Updated 02 September 2014