Christian Church, Christian faith, Finsbury Park station, Islington Council, local residents, Rainbow Theatre, youth engagement,
Monday 28th July 2014
The area around Finsbury Park station is always busy and never particularly tidy, but a group of 15 youths from the UCKG HelpCentre’s Victory Youth Group (VYG) based at the nearby Rainbow Theatre have been making all the difference.
The volunteers, who were all taking part in the VYG’s annual ‘We Care! – Youth Engagement’ community outreach initiative spent Saturday July 26th assisting the council with its waste management.
There were two aspects to their work. Eight of the volunteers collected a total of 32 black sacks of litter from the side roads and nearby estate land. The others were engaged in delivering over 600 leaflets to flats above shops on the main roads regarding refuse collection times, for the benefit of the local residents.
Both activities were organised in association with Islington Council. Speaking on behalf of the authority, Sally Burke, from the operations team of Islington Council said: “Young, dynamic, professional! Is my impression of this youth group. The young people were great, they’re all enthusiastic; they were taking it seriously and respect authority.”
Interestingly she also said that while some young people have a bad reputation it’s nice that others are doing something positive and seem to have pride in their area.
Local resident Paulo Rennan similarly noticed the difference, adding that: “Youths today are always busy, they are closed off and in their own world… want no responsibility, but these young people are doing something different.”
His impression was that the VYG are interested in their community and showing the people a better way to live.
The young volunteers certainly seemed to agree. Volunteer Micael Lima 23 said: “This is a new experience. I have never done this before and I enjoyed myself learning to give more to my community by disposing of my litter in the right way.”
Valient Motondo, 19, felt it was “A really good opportunity and great for the CV. A new experience and something unusual you don’t find many young people picking up rubbish to make the streets cleaner.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
UCKG is a Christian church and registered charity that offers a range of practical support activities alongside spiritual support and comfort and welcomes all-comers. It reached the UK in 1995 and has gone from strength to strength, providing support and spreading the Christian faith. There are UCKG HelpCentre branches in England and Wales.
VYG is the UCKG HelpCentre’s youth group. Open to 15 – 25 year olds, the VYG provides family-style peer group support and helps and encourages the young to be the best that they can be.
For further information please contact the UCKG HelpCentre Press Officer via e-mail on press@uckgnew.org or direct line 020 7686 6033.
