This month, we award our Volunteer of the Month award to a whole group of volunteers! In early September, our latest Eagles graduate programme recruits came together to complete a team challenge. As a new group of people that had only known each other for a few weeks, having met during the training phase of the Eagles programme, they did brilliantly well getting on with the momentous task Shoreditch Adventure Playground had planned for them. The challenge involved moving large logs within the site, laying wood chip, building in the forest school and working on the sensory garden!

A great team building day which was thoroughly appreciated by both the Eagles volunteers and the team at Shoreditch Adventure Playground.

We caught up with Sini, on behalf of the Eagles team, to find out about their volunteering experience:

Why did you volunteer?
As a new cohort of Eagles coming in, doing the Team Challenge was a good way for us to bond and develop in a new capacity. We would all also eventually be joining new teams and so it was beneficial for us to begin exploring the different skills we would be using when we went our separate ways.

What did you gain from your volunteering experience?
It was amazing how much our communication skills improved. We had a lot to do and the only way we would achieve it all would be through working together. We really had to pull together and ensure we were supporting one and other.

Would you recommend volunteering to a colleague and if so then why?
I would highly recommend volunteering as it is a really good way to give back. Once we looked back on what we had achieved it felt really rewarding because we knew it would be really appreciated by the young people who use the playground. The staff at the playground were also really grateful and hearing how we’d made their life easier was nice.