Yulia started volunteering in our Jarrow store, Lucie’s Legacy, at the beginning of February last year.
Carol Hallett, our project lead for Community Activators, initially met Yulia at a DWP event at South Shields Town Hall. This event was to encourage people who find it difficult to get employment due to childcare issues, age, language barriers or mental ill health to gain volunteering experience.
Yulia lives locally with her children; she is a refugee from Ukraine where her husband is still fighting. Yulia felt that she needed to improve her English conversational skills and wanted a chance to meet people whilst her children are at school.
We arranged for her to come into our Jarrow store to have a look around and meet some of our staff, volunteers, and companions.
Since then, Yulia has volunteered once a week in the store. She gets on well with other volunteers, staff and companions and it is a pleasure to see friendships grow. Her English is improving every week, and she has a smile on her face every time she comes into the shop. After Yulia’s success we now have three other volunteers who are coming in to improve their conversational English. We are currently planning a group crafting session with cake and tea so that people can all come along to so we can all learn about each other’s cultures and practice chatting.
We are proud to be a part of Yulia’s journey!