Emmie, 14, from Manchester, volunteers with Emmie's Kitchen.
Emmie is sharing her story after being awarded the Spirit of Manchester Young Volunteer of the Year Award for 2023.
I volunteer every week at Emmie’s Kitchen. I help pack the snack bags and deliver them and sometimes I help deliver the hot food. I have been volunteering since 2018 when I was 9 years old. It was initially face-to-face and monthly but now I do it weekly, after the Covid-19 pandemic.
I got involved with volunteering after a diagnosis of Leukaemia, after seeing so many parents in the hospital not being able to look after themselves while they had a sick child. When I started to get better I wanted to help them and give back, me and my family set up a charity called Emmie’s Kitchen which originally provided a free 3-course meal to parents staying at the Ronald McDonald house.
Volunteering has been a part of my life and my weekly routine. It’s encouraged me to think about others and how you can bring about change so quickly with just a meal a week. With Emmie’s Kitchen I’ve seen that it’s possible to do, and if you believe and can commit to it, it can come true. It’s probably given me more confidence in my own abilities and ideas, and given patients and parents hope that things can better because they’ve seen me and I’m well.
The thing that I enjoy most about volunteering is knowing that people are benefitting from the work that me and my family do, and seeing the messages and feedback, not only in person but like on our socials on how big of a difference the charity has made. It makes me feel proud because of my accomplishments and also my family, but also happy because we're making a difference to people’s lives.
My favourite volunteering memory is being a part of the team that makes up over 200 parent Christmas bags, including books, pyjamas chocolates, toiletries, hot chocolates etc, and seeing each of the elements that take time and hard work come together, to be ready to give to parents in need.
I would say to someone thinking about volunteering that you can’t lose anything from helping others; it’s an opportunity to meet and grow as a person.
What song best sums up your volunteering experience:
'Best Day Of My Life' by American Authors.
