Thank you to everyone who came to our Volunteer Awards! Congratulations to our Award winners and those highly commended!
Firstly, we'd like to say thank you to everyone who has volunteered with QMSU Volunteering this year - you make a huge positive impact that is so inspiring, whether you volunteer with our partner organisations, with our Give Volunteering A Go one-off opportunities, or with our student-led Volunteering Groups. To our Volunteering Officers, Volunteering Champions, and Volunteering Board - thank you so much for all your work this year, we have loved working with you and hope you are proud of everything you've accomplished!
Thank you to everyone who came to this year's Volunteer Awards and made it such a brilliant evening, it was lovely to see you all and celebrate your achievements this year! For those who couldn't make it, here's a run-down of our Award winners and our highly commended winners. These results will be posted to our Volunteer Awards page shortly. Well done everyone!
We have three Awards to commend our student-led Volunteering Groups and their hard-working members: Volunteering Group Event of the Year, Volunteering Group Member of the Year, and Volunteering Group of the Year.
SAMDA won Volunteering Group Event of the Year for their Medicine Taster Day event. Highly commended are Barts Community Smiles for their DIY Health event, and Teddy Bear Hospital for their Safety Day.
Madina Chaudhary from Barts Community Smiles won Volunteering Group Member of the Year, with Shreya Suresh from Griffin Community Trust and Gaurav Jagdish from Teddy Bear Hospital highly commended.
Teddy Bear Hospital won Volunteering Group of the Year, with Project Play and Barts Community Smiles winning highly commended.
Click the links to view their mini-sites and see how you can get involved over on their Instagrams!
We have two Awards to celebrate particularly engaged partner organisations that we work with that provide excellent volunteering opportunities for students.
Solidarity Sports won our Community Organisation of the Year Award, with London Nightline and Spring Community Hub highly commended.
Positive East were the winners of our Give Volunteering A Go Organisation of the Year Award, with the London Museum being highly commended.
To find out more about volunteering with these organisations, follow the links! Positive East, the London Museum, and London Nightline don’t have opportunities live at the moment, but when they do we’ll be putting this in our volunteer newsletter, which you’ll receive if you have a volunteer profile.
We have a number of Awards to celebrate students who do volunteering across QMSU Volunteering’s offer.
Rasika Khemka won Innovator of the Year Award for her skill in promoting QMSU Volunteering this year, particularly the Love In A Box initiative for Haven House Children’s Hospice. Our highly commended winners are Nabila Noor, who ran two hugely successful donation drives this year, and Sophie Wright for her hard work volunteering for London Nightline and on a shoebox appeal initiative.
Fatima Jabeen won the New Volunteer of the Year Award for her dedication to her volunteering with Griffin Community Trust this year. Farah Talal Abdul Aziz Al-Bahrani is highly commended for their engagement and enthusiasm with so many volunteering initiatives this year, while Gaurav Jagdish is highly commended for their passion and leadership volunteering with Teddy Bear Hospital.
Syeda Bhukari won the Community Volunteering Volunteer of the Year Award for her positive attitude and support for other volunteers while volunteering with London Nightline. Olivia Daley is highly commended for her work leading an innovative project on how to support the local community with the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Sophie Wright is highly commended for her over 20 hours of volunteering with London Nightline this year, and her contribution to the success of a Samaritan’s Purse shoebox appeal.
Josefina Infante Kozarow was the winner of the Sustainability Volunteer of the Year Award for her leadership as Mile End Sustainability Officer on a diverse range of sustainability volunteering initiatives this year. Lily Throssell is highly commended for her time dedicated to volunteering at the Re-Use Fair, the Big Green Canal Clean, and delivering warm clothes students had donated to Whitechapel Mission. Ruby Skinner is highly commended for their participation in multiple Sustainability initiatives this year, from volunteering at the Re-Use Fair to a Canal Clean Up.
Lily Throssell is our Give Volunteering A Go Volunteer of the Year, for her work delivering a Samaritan’s Purse shoebox appeal and a variety of volunteering events this year, from a Volunteer Social to leading volunteers at Trans+ Pride. Mehreen Khan is highly commended for her championing of volunteering this year and for her work leading on a donation drive for Haven House Children’s Hospice this year, inspiring students to start volunteering. Farah Talal Abdul Aziz Al-Bahrani is highly commended for her engagement with a huge range of Give Volunteering A Go events this year, from taking photos at Student Volunteer Week events to helping to raise and deliver donations to Bow Food Bank.
Ruyin Nikdost has won at Leaver Volunteer of the Year Award for their commitment to making a meaningful impact through volunteering and developing their leadership skills through their role as a Volunteering Board member, a QMSU Sport Coach, and as a volunteer with Teddy Bear Hospital. Eileen Lee Jia Huey is highly commended for the lasting impact they have made on Project Play, from restarting Play sessions after COVID-19 to launching the Volunteering Group’s first website!
Jaylene Chelsea Ali has won Volunteering Champion of the Year Award for her excellent leadership at Give Volunteering A Go events this year, and her warm clothes donation drive, delivering six bags full of clothes to Whitechapel Mission. Rasika Khemka is highly commended for her creativity in promoting the various initiatives she has been part of this year and her support for students who are looking to start their volunteering journey. Mehreen Khan is highly commended for the energy and enthusiasm that she brings to every event that she leads, inspiring students to get involved with initiatives such as her donation drive for Haven House Children’s Hospice.
Thank you everyone again for your amazing, inspiring work this year! If you are new to QMSU Volunteering and had any questions at all on how to start volunteering with us, please do reach out at su-volunteering@qmul.ac.uk, we’d love to see you at the Awards next year!