My name is Johnny, I started volunteering at Kids Kabin almost four years ago. You might recognise me from Wednesday afternoon cooking sessions where I try and trick the kids into eating vegetarian food! I originally got involved as a way of meeting people in Walker to interview for my PhD research, and although I finished the data collection stage months ago, I’m still getting myself down from the university pretty much every week. Why? Two reasons.
Firstly, because I love having an impact in a community that has helped me so much with my work and which has been so welcoming. Where I live in Heaton, I don’t even know my neighbours name, whereas when I walk around Walker, I’m constantly getting approached by kids and their parents to have a bit of a chinwag.
Secondly, because it genuinely improves my week. Doing ‘Great British Bake-Off’ with a group rowdy kids or taking the bike-powered smoothie maker out-and-about for one of our street sessions is about as different to sitting in a dusty library working on my thesis as is imaginable.
Unfortunately, I’ll be hanging up my chefs hat in September as I’m moving to the big city for work, but I’ve had an amazing few years at Kids Kabin and I’ll definitely be getting involved in something similar in the future.