Our second feature for ‘Handling Covid19’ is First Give, a fully-resourced secondary school programme that gets an entire year group of students engaging in social action. First Give received their first grant from Rank back in 2017 and their Director, Louisa Searle, is a School Leadership Award Fellow and member of the RankNet Leaders Action Group.
First Give exists to inspire young people to make a difference to the causes they care about. They do this through a fully resourced programme delivered in partnership in secondary schools. The charity has 7 full time staff and works with roughly 200 schools and 37,000 young people a year.
“Usually the team are busy going in and out of schools to work with teachers and young people – delivering assemblies, workshops and hosting our celebratory School Finals, held at each of our partner schools where students can win £1,000 for a chosen charity.
During this isolation period we spent the first two weeks of the lockdown supporting our schools and helping them as they transition into remote learning. We also developed and launched a new mini-programme: First Give – Helping From Home. This free three-lesson programme can be used by teachers but also by parents and young people. It’s linked to an online competition where each month young people have a chance to win £200 for a chosen charity through their remote or virtual social action.
Teachers and supporters have been incredibly enthusiastic during this difficult period – we are all trying to find ways in which to spread positivity and bring people together… young people need this more than ever.
The biggest challenge during this crisis has been shifting our mindset from this period being one of challenge to one of opportunity – there’s a lot that charities like First Give can do to support our beneficiaries in this time.”
Get in touch with First Give via info@myfirstgive.co.uk
For more information visit Fist Give’s website.
Follow First Give on Twitter at @FirstGiveUK