Raise awareness, volunteer or fundraise to help Bishop's Stortford Youth Project and Thirst Youth Cafe keep raising its profile

Jake Tucker, chief executive of Bishop's Stortford Youth Project and Thirst Youth Café, writes in the Indie...

Thank you to everyone who contacted us following our recent column, asking more questions about what we do and kindly asking 'how can we help?'

When we get asked this we always say that there are three major challenges facing us…

Raising awareness

As confirmed by the response to our recent column, we know that we are currently considered one of Bishop's Stortford's best-kept secrets! We hope that by working closely with the Bishop's Stortford Independent and the local community we can start to change this.

We know that we help young people find their voice and be heard, but we need to find our voice and make sure we are heard too!

By raising awareness and letting people know what we do, where we are and how to get involved, we can make sure that we continue to support more young people in the future.

Please help us in raising awareness by telling your friends and family about us. Thank you!

Volunteers

We couldn't run without volunteers and we currently are in urgent need of more. We need adult volunteers and we also run a youth volunteering programme for 11- to 18-year-olds.

Volunteers can help at Thirst Youth Café and we also need help with admin/fundraising and other behind-the-scenes jobs.

Volunteering is a great way to meet and help other people, learn new skills and have fun – and it looks great on your CV. If you have some spare time we can put it to good use!

If you are interested in volunteering with us we are holding an open day on Saturday January 14 at Thirst Youth Café, 76 South Street, CM23 3AZ. Doors open at 10.15am and there will be a short presentation at 10.30am, followed by the chance to meet current staff and volunteers and ask questions. We hope to see you there.

Fundraising

It costs more than £150,000 per annum to keep the doors to Thirst Youth Café open and to run all our other projects. We apply for grants, but we rely on the support of the local community to SURVIVE and THRIVE.

If you are able to help us raise funds in any way – whether making a one-off or regular donation, arranging or attending a fundraising event, taking on a personal challenge (fancy doing a skydive in 2023?!), helping with fundraising admin or volunteering at events – please do let us know.

It's our 10th anniversary in 2023 and we are planning some fun events for all ages. We hope you can join us to celebrate and we look forward to letting you know more about what's going on at Bishop's Stortford Youth Project and Thirst Youth Café in the new year.

Thank you once again for your support and we would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. Speak again in 2023!