VOLUNTEERS at a vital lifeline for young people in Evesham have vowed to keep the support they offer up on social media and online during the Coronavirus crisis.
Staff at Evesham’s Ourside Youth Centre closed their doors at their Broadway Road base on Tuesday (March 24) to meet the demands of the lockdown imposed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson the previous evening.
But the tireless work done by volunteers will continue on Instagram during the duration of the three week lockdown imposed to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak.
Ourside provides a safe and welcoming space for anyone aged 11 to 19 years old, offering open access sessions alongside targeted youth work. As the only dedicated youth centre in the area, youth workers see approximately 100 young people every week.
Centre boss Bev Wride said young people were an integral part of an increasingly connected world and community is more important than ever as we all work together to fight COVID-19.
“As an organisation we had already recognised the rise and very real impact of youth loneliness for young people.
Now more than ever we are going to need to be available for young people offering, alongside putting activities out there which will hopefully still enable them to feel connected and part of Ourside,” she said.
“Continuity and consistency are important and therefore Ourside Youth Centre are going to offer a presence on social media during the same times of each project for each of the sessions.
“This will be supported with online youth worker support if young people want to speak about anything they are going through,” she added
Ourside is inviting people to start following them on Instagram @oursideyouthcentre for relevant and engaging contact, alongside online support and activities on Wednesday’s and Thursday’s.
Between 1pm and 2pm on Wednesday there will be activities with an online youth worker support while between 6.30pm and 8.30pm on the same day there will be activity suggestions and interactive posts, alongside online youth worker support.
A mix of sports, healthy lifestyle, art sessions alongside online youth worker support will be on offer on Thursdays from 6.30pm to 8.15pm.
“We feel strongly about our work supporting young people in Evesham and to ensure it continues we were presented with a unique opportunity to go digital. We hope this means we are able to reach and support more young people during this time,” said chair Carly Elwell.
Visit www.ourside.org.uk or follow @OursideYouth on Twitter or Ourside Evesham on Facebook for more.
