News

Alice’s Story

6th March 2020

Alice is a film student at Middlesex University, originally from Brazil, she currently lives in Colindale, Barnet.

When she graduates she wants to involve disadvantaged children in Brazil into the arts and film. To Alice, volunteering is a great way to learn more about the charity sector; understanding her community and how to engage with local people. She found out about the opportunities at Colindale Communities Trust through Volunteering Barnet.

Her role as a reception and admin assistant has a big focus on engaging and chatting with people. She says:

“Sometimes they might be hesitant, especially if English is not their first language. But once they see English is not my first language as well and I am there to help with a smile on my face, you can see in people’s body language how much more comfortable they get. And they almost always come back!”

She has met lot of friendly people, both beneficiaries of the charity and the staff and volunteers that help out. She enjoys volunteering in the organisation as everyone is passionate about helping people by going above and beyond.

Alice finds volunteering easy to balance alongside her studies, as she is in third year, a lot of her workload can be done in her own time, making it flexible.

Alice explains how volunteering is “perfect to start getting to know the city you’ve moved to”. It’s helped her to feel more connected with her community, allowing her to practise her language skills too. Now that’s like having your cake and eating it too.