20 Good Deeds of Summer

Summer is coming, and whilst your natural post-exam urge is to embrace the sun and lounge around with a jug of Pimm’s, an ice cream cone and other summer delights, this is definitely not as rewarding as giving back to the community and helping those less fortunate than yourselves. So, without further ado, here is Causes’ 20 Good Deeds of Summer!

Volunteering

1. Volunteer at a music festival

Free music, friends, and perhaps just a little bit of mud – volunteering at a music festival is one of the best ways of giving back whilst having a blast. If you need more persuading, take a look at Sara Halliday’s reasoning…

2. Summer Reading Challenge

I volunteered at a local library for a couple of summers, helping the children with their reading and getting them enthused in literature from an early age, with sticker rewards and finally a medal and certificate – It was an incredibly rewarding experience and one that I will never forget. Check with your local library to see if they are running the scheme.

3. Volunteer in a charity shop

Charity shops are particularly busy over summer, when everyone is looking for bargains for that perfect summer outfit – lend them your time and you’re sure to feel fantastic!

4. Do-It

And no, I’m not talking about Shia LaBeouf’s latest viral video (although this can also be applied to volunteering – if you want to do something good, just do it!). Do-It is the website on which I found my first volunteering opportunity. Volunteers Week 2015 may be over for now, but the world of volunteering is always out there, ready for you to ‘be the change you want to see in the world’, in the wise words of Ghandi. With Do-It, finding your perfect volunteering opportunity couldn’t be easier. You simply select the area you’re interested in, where in the country you want to volunteer, and your skills, and you are presented with a vast array of volunteering opportunities before your very eyes.

5. vInspired

In a similar vein to Do-It, vInspired is the biggest national youth volunteering scheme in the country. I recently achieved my v50 Award, which is recognised by many employers in the charity sector, for 50+ hours of volunteering. Why not use the summer to kickstart both your benevolence and your CV? They even offer micro-volunteering opportunities which you can do in a few minutes from the comfort of your own home!

6. International volunteering

It may be too late to sign up for any of the DUCK expeditions, but this summer is a good time to be thinking about whether you may want to volunteer abroad next year. There are many potential organisations to go through regarding this.

7. Volunteer in a food bank

The food banks are particularly vital during the summer, when children are out of school and unable to get free school meals, putting a lot of pressure on struggling parents – do as Paige Hickson did here and give them a hand!

Micro-volunteering

There’s no end to the impact you can have with schemes like vInspired, no matter how small (find more information on http://helpfromhome.org).These small actions could make a big difference…

8. Sign a petition

Change dot org, Avaaz – the list goes on and on. We all know them, but when was the last time you sat down and actually considered the petition you were signing, and then actively searched out more to sign? Take some time out of your day to contemplate the purpose of these petitions, sign a few, or even start one yourself! Every signature helps.

9. Answer trivia questions

Yes, seriously! At http://www.freerice.com/, for every answer you get right, 10 grains of rice will be donated to the United Nations World Food Programme.

10. Buy a Big Issue

We’ve all been guilty of walking past a Big Issue vendor when you don’t have quite the right change on you or you have your hands full of shopping – but it is important to remember that they are working hard to help themselves out of homelessness and will be so grateful when you do purchase one. If you take the time to get to know some of the local Big Issue sellers in your area and frequently help them out, you’ll soon be recognised as a friendly face – and what’s a better feeling than that?

Help…

11. Help fundraise for charity

Have a bake sale, sell ice-cool lemonade, do a sponsored event… Summer is the perfect opportunity to raise money for a charity important to you, and with the weather being so lovely, people will be in an even more generous and giving mood to help out!

12. Help change or save a life – donate your hair, blood or marrow

If the last of this year’s rent has left your wallet feeling despondent and you don’t have money to spare, you can always donate something else to make an incredible difference to someone else’s life, or even save it. You can give blood, donate your hair to charities like the Little Princess Trust, or sign up to the Organ Donor Register or the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Register.

13. Help start a campaign

Most people have an issue close to their heart or something they feel that needs to be changed or have action taken on – summer is the perfect time to begin planning to make a difference. Whether that’s starting a petition, a large-scale fundraiser, or simply spreading the word about an important cause on social media or through discussions with family and friends, you can make a difference. Change won’t happen unless we make it – why not start now?

14. Help the children in your area

Someone once said that children are the future, and we should make sure that we allow them to flourish and grow. You could set up a community class to teach them a new skill over the holidays, when parents will be at a loss for what to do with their children whilst they are at work, or volunteer in a summer school or day care centre.

15. Help the elderly

See if a local nursing home is looking for volunteers for the summer – the residents will be so appreciative. You can put a smile on their faces and they will be sure to put a smile on yours! Going to check in on elderly relatives or neighbours is another rewarding way of making sure the elderly have someone to chat to in the long summer months.

16. Help to recognise someone’s good work

Do you know someone who has given back ceaselessly to the community, never asking for a thing in return? There are plenty of community awards which you can nominate people for – the perfect way to give back to those who give so much!

17. Help Durham

Just because it’s the summer doesn’t mean you can’t still get involved in Durham causes. Start planning what charitable societies you may get involved with next year (if you’re coming back), or even go about setting up your own society if there’s a gap in the market for a cause close to your heart.

18. Help charities through internship schemes

Many third-sector employers offer the chance to work for them over the summer to gain work experience in the charity industry. What better way to boost your CV and give your heart that warm fuzzy glow it gets when you do something good?

19. Help the National Citizen Service

Take a look at the NCS Opportunity Hub to find ways of helping out with worthwhile causes whilst gaining valuable skills: http://www.ncsyes.co.uk/opphub.

And finally…

20. Write for the Causes section of The Bubble!

If you have a cause you are passionate about, or a campaign or fundraising event you are involved in, please do get in touch on causes@thebubble.org.uk – we’d love to hear from you!

Original article - The Bubble - Causes

Swing the Vote

Will you be voting in the election this year? For many of us (3.3 million young people, to be precise), 7th May 2015 will mark our first opportunity to vote in a General Election, with it being five years since the last one. This is our chance to have a real say in how the country will be run. Who will be moving into 10 Downing Street in less than a month’s time? Will it be the leader of the Labour Party? UKIP? Green? The Liberal Democrats? Or will David Cameron stay put? The decision is yours.

However, the amount of people taking this opportunity is minimal – in the 2010 election, only 44% of all 18–24 year olds voted, compared with 68% of over 65s, and young British people are some of the least likely to vote in Europe. Young people are also some of the most keen to make a difference to their society, remaining part of social change through activism, campaigns, volunteering and social media movements. We are clearly a politically-minded, active bunch. So why aren’t we all taking the opportunity to vote?

Team v’s latest campaign, ‘Swing the Vote’, is aiming to get more 18–25s into the polling booth to cast their vote in order to ensure that politicians take notice about the issues that matter to young people, like education (I’m sure we all remember the tuition fees scandal that still haunts our nightmares – not to mention our future bank balances), jobs and affordable housing. We all have the chance to influence decision makers and play a part in democracy, and Team v wants us all to understand the importance of using our political voice, by voting. People fought hard to win our country democracy, and for women, win us the vote – surely it would be wasteful if we ignored this call? There are 6.8 million young people eligible to vote in this election – enough to decide the all-important election result. If we sit back and do nothing, we’re relinquishing our chance to have a say. As Maisie Williams, the star of Game of Thrones, says: ‘They think you’re a self-obsessed, selfie stick-waving generation… they’ve kicked your future in the teeth and hoped you wouldn’t notice.’ But you have noticed, and now it’s time to do something about it.

It’s incredibly important to engage with politics and with your local MP. It is understandable that so many young people are disengaged with politics, but I think it’s true that you shouldn’t complain about politics if you’ve not at least made an effort to change it, if you have the chance – once you’ve voted you can complain all you want (because who doesn’t love a bit of jeering at the TV every now and again)!

The top issues voted by young people in a vInspired poll were: the NHS, inequality, tuition fees, the cost of living, unemployment, care for the elderly, crime, affordable housing, online privacy and public finances. All of these issues are in the hands of the government we vote in. If you have opinions on any of these issues, and many more, there is no reason not to vote. If you’re still uncertain as to who to vote for, the Swing the Vote campaign and Do Something have teamed up with ten YouTubers to bring you the lowdown on these issues, explaining how they affect you and what the policies of each party are regarding them. You can find these videos on the Swing the Vote Tumblr: http://swingthevote.vinspired.com/#/filter-all/page-1.

However, Team v isn’t just focusing on getting young people to vote. It also aims to get people to think about how politics is a 24/7 aspect of our lives, whether we like it or not. It affects us in our everyday life, and there are many ways of getting involved in the decision-making which goes into politics, such as through online petitions, youth councils and volunteering for a political party.

We’ve watched the debates, we’ve seen the manifestos, and we’ve heard every plea under the sun to vote a certain way – but ultimately, the decision is down to you. What are you waiting for? Come May 7th, go and vote!

To get more involved in Team v’s ‘Swing the Vote’ campaign, join the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/794181834000200/.

Original article: The Bubble

Gender-specific literature for children?

A national campaign to stop retailers and publishers marketing children’s books as gender-specific, making books “for boys” and “for girls”, has garnered widespread support in the literary industry. It is backed by bookstores such as Waterstones, a handful of publishers, and writers such as children’s laureate Malory Blackman, Carol Ann Duffy and Philip Pullman. The ‘Let Books Be Books’ campaign is attacking titles such as those by Usborne. Their Illustrated Classics for Boys is described as ‘a collection of stories of action, adventure… suitable for boys’, whilst its Illustrated Stories for Girls contains tales about ‘mermaids, fairies, princesses and dolls’. Due to the campaign Usborne have stated that they are to discontinue these titles. It is also targeting bookstores with gender-orientated displays. A petition on this campaign has passed well over 5,000 signatures, suggesting that it has touched upon a very prevalent issue in our society, and I definitely think it is one that needs addressing.

Literature has always been seen as an escape from real life, and if the gender rules that so heinously apply to this modern world keep applying to literature, this escapism will be a thing of the past for children. By marketing books like this, gender stereotypes are reinforced. At the impressionable stage of childhood the last thing we want to be doing is telling future generations what they can and can’t do, based on what they can and can’t read. It sends a message to the next generation about the roles they must play and the activities they are allowed to enjoy, making gender the be-all and end-all and. Surely it is more important to encourage reading than to discourage it through these ignorant, old fashioned means? We should be supporting children to find out what they enjoy reading rather than taking it into our own hands to narrow their interests on their behalf. Informed decisions need to be made based on far more than gender. Something that is so clearly about the freedom of knowledge and learning should not have such limiting restrictions applied to it. Reading is so personal; readers should decide what they want to read of their own accord rather than have it dictated to them by the literary industry or even overbearing parents.

Critics to the campaign argue that it is inappropriate for children to be reading books with masculine or feminine content which doesn’t match their biological gender. They take a rather reductionist view, suggesting that marketing books in this gender-orientated way merely makes children find reading more appealing, suggesting that at their age they are predominantly attracted to books based on the colours and images used to indicate which gender the book is for. It also makes parents reassured that what they are giving their children to read is likely to be enjoyable, as not all children have the ability or the opportunity to decide what they wish to read. Michael O’Mara, whose company owns children’s publisher Buster Books, defended gender-specific titles, saying that they are easier to sell than unisex versions: “It is a fact of life how a very large percentage of people shop when buying for kids, do it by sex… Our two best children books ever are The Boys’ Book and The Girls’ Book”. The very fact that this is seen as a ‘fact of life’ for consumers merely demonstrates how much this mindset needs to change. In response to O’Mara’s criticism, campaigner Megan Perryman told the Independent, “By marketing books specifically at boys or girls, you halve your readership and alienate the many children who do not fit into neat boy/girl boxes.”

Although it is possible that this gendered method encourages children to read, there are far better ways to encourage children, by allowing them to find their own interests for themselves. Whilst doing work experience at a children’s publishing house in London I saw that their focus was always on making books appealing to everyone – parents and children, girls and boys alike. The broader the intended audience, the more sales they are likely to have, therefore this idea is not only beneficial for children, it is also likely to be beneficial for the finances of the literary industry as a whole. For instance, the most successful books, such as Harry Potter or The Hunger Games, don’t have gendered covers at all, and appeal to any gender.

I’ve volunteered at the Summer Reading Challenge in my local library and have seen first-hand how children pick and respond to books. You can tell a lot about a parent by witnessing how they react to their child’s reading choices – whilst one may sharply tell their child to put down a book they say is ‘meant’ for another gender, another simply welcomes their child embracing the words, no matter which gender they were directed at. We have a responsibility to ensure that children have the opportunity to make these all-important learning decisions for themselves. The books you read as a child can help to shape the rest of your life – and it is not our place to shape their lives for them. We just have to ensure that we give them the building blocks and make them feel safe and secure, rather than judged, in whatever they are reading.

Original article: The Bubble - Literature