Young people in Hemel Hempstead raise hundreds for DENS

A team of young people from Hemel Hempstead raised over £500 for DENS when they took part in YC Hertfordshire's Keep Doing Good programme.

Thirty-four young people, from across Hertfordshire, have supported great local community causes by taking part in the programme.

Launched last month, Keep Doing Good, is a socially distanced version of the National Citizen Service (NCS) community programme for 16 to 17-year-olds, which enables young people to build on their life and work skills while helping their communities.

After an uncertain few months and facing the threat of cancellation, two-week programmes were recently held in Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Welwyn and Hatfield, giving young people the chance to support their local communities after the coronavirus pandemic.

Daily sessions included socially distanced team-building exercises, mental health awareness workshops and presentations by GamCare, a problem gambling awareness charity.

One of the teams in Hemel Hempstead chose to raise money for DENS, which supports people in Dacorum facing poverty, homelessness and social exclusion.

Team CAM sought to raise £500 during their three-day social action project and since launching their JustGiving page, have raised £565.45 to date.

One volunteer said: “Our aim was to raise as much money as we could for DENS.

"Over three days we planned to travel the distance equivalent of Hemel to Brighton and back, a total of 173 miles!

"We chose to do the distance between here and Brighton as it has one of the top 10 largest homeless communities in the country.

"Each one of us completed 17.3 miles with a combination of walking, running and cycling – whilst wearing yellow for DENS!”

Deputy Leader of Hertfordshire County Council and Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families, cllr Teresa Heritage, said: “These young people were determined to give something back to their local communities and help raise the spirits of those who are struggling.

“It is to their credit that they persisted, worked well together as a team and did so much good work this summer.”

Fundraising events were also carried out in St Albans for The Ollie Foundation while in Welwyn Hatfield the group designed a ‘Where’s Wally’ treasure hunt for local children and families at Stanborough Park, Welwyn Garden City.

The treasure hunt was held on one of the hottest days of the year and involved many children and families, in just over an hour the group raised £33 towards care packages for Herts Young Homeless.

Young people who took part in the Keep Doing Good programme are still eligible to take part in the full NCS programme which will be relaunched in Autumn 2020 and Summer 2021.

For more information about the work of YC Hertfordshire Services for Young People, including NCS, visit www.ychertfordshire.org.