JVN Blog

As part of JVN’s expanding youth programme we are starting to forge strong relationships with university students up and down the country. As well as the current internships page on the JVN website, which showcases a wide range of voluntary internships in the charity sector to develop young people’s skills and professional experience, JVN is now offering new services to Jewish university students.

JVN Youth Co-ordinator Mike Silverstone has been and will be travelling around the country to university Jewish Societies (JSocs). So far Mike has been to Cambridge and Bristol, where he gave a presentation and Q&A session on the concept of volunteering, the benefits of volunteering as a Jewish student and the roots of volunteering in Judaism, as well as providing several local volunteering opportunities in addition to those already on the JVN website – and, of course, some food!

Mike said of his visits, “I am really impressed at the level of interest shown by Jewish students in volunteering, both on-campus and at home in the holidays. I hope to give students a more focussed approach to finding volunteering opportunities and I am glad that I have encouraged some to think about volunteering who have not really thought about it before.”

In addition to the campus visits, Mike is also excited to announce that JVN will be partnering with Vscheme, the Jewish student volunteering scheme, in order to take it to the next level. Hopefully the creation of a Vscheme Board within the next few weeks and a greater level of familiarity with various unviersity campuses will enable Vscheme to expand onto campuses besides Nottingham, where it has already been incredibly successful.

There is a scheduled visit to Oxford University planned next week, and visits to King’s College London, Manchester and Leeds are also in the pipeline. If you want Mike to come and talk to your JSoc or if you are interested in joining the Vscheme Board, please e-mail him at mike@jvn.org.uk.