Volunteers’ Week 2022 – Shawn’s Story
Shawn began his volunteering journey in 2018 and since then has been involved with a number of charity organisations across Glasgow, assisting with many different projects helping the wider community.
Shawn created a Cybercrime Awareness and Prevention Workshop to provide communities, especially vulnerable pensioners, with basic prevention methods to stay safe and increase awareness of how to tackle fraudulent scam situations, something which has been extremely important and beneficial during COVID-19 times where everything has been so highly tech driven.
Shawn now volunteers in his local area, Springburn, based at the Springburn Community Hub. He is also part of Interfaith Glasgow’s Weekend Club and finds their volunteering teams to be one of the best, most diverse and compassionate groups of people he has come across!
In light of Shawn’s incredible commitment to volunteering, he was the worthy recipient of ‘Volunteer of the Year’ at the 2021 Scottish Charity Awards.
“I hope that [my experience] will be an eye opener and encouragement for other volunteers – especially for those that are socially excluded. Nothing is impossible if we put our minds to it. I believe we should always take the initiative to learn and to be productive in every aspect of life. By being a productive volunteer, this will benefit our mental health in ways we could never think of because this has helped me to overcome my anxiety and depression.”
Due to his extensive experience and dedication to volunteering, Shawn is now a Community Learning Development practitioner and works with communities, facilitating and promoting community empowerment whilst also providing learning and development opportunities to folks from all walks of life in a community based setting.
“Circumstances in life may not always turn out the way we want it to be. Life may not be as smooth as we want it to be. But hard work, dedication and perseverance goes a long way. With compassion, persistence and skills, we can help those in even the most impossible situation and when we pull together as a community we can make miracles happen.”
