West Lindsey: Scheme aims to increase young volunteers

St John Ambulance is just one of a number of youth organisations supporting the new Step up to Serve campaign launched last week at Buckingham Palace.

The campaign aims to double the number of young volunteers in the UK by 2020 by expanding existing opportunities, encouraging new ones and overcoming the barriers that stop young people, aged ten to 20, getting involved.

It will encourage 1.7 million more young people to make social action a habit for life.

More than half of St John Ambulance’s 43,000 volunteers are under the age of 18 and the charity, a member of the Youth United network, is keen to play a major part in helping Step up to Serve achieve its aims.

St John Ambulance Cadets, aged ten to 18, can access a wide range of development opportunities.

Jason Loughran, regional youth manager for St John Ambulance in the East Midlands, said: ‘We’re delighted to support the Step up to Serve campaign and we’ve seen at first hand the difference volunteering as a young person can make.”

“In addition to learning to be the difference between life and death, our young people put these skills into practice learning teamwork and leadership along the way.”

“Many of our young people go on to become youth leaders but we’re always looking for more adult volunteers to support our cadet units.”

Cadet Andrew Doughty, 16, from Lincoln, has been involved with St John Ambulance since joining at the age of six as a Badger.

He is the current District Cadet of the Year for Lincolnshire and Notts.

He regularly gives his time to provide first aid support to his local community, and during his time with St John Ambulance he has achieved the highest award in both Badgers and Cadet

For more information on how to get involved with St John Ambulance telephone 08700 10 49 50 or visit www.sja.org.uk