David Smith is a Hankinson Employee who has began to embark on a journey of a lifetime. David, 22 from Woodchurch has, for the last 6 months been involved with the Motivate project. This is a project working with young people aged 17-24 and offers opportunities to put something back to the local community whilst learning new skills and promoting personal development.
David is one of the founder members and has during the last few months been involved in team building events with the Marines, educational sessions with response, the development of the memorial garden at Hoole Road and has raised over £1000 towards an overseas trip to Malaysia
The difference Motivate has made in the area has been acknowledged by many local agencies, including the Police, Neighbourhood Management and the residents themselves. Motivate has encouraged young people to take control of their lives and David has been positive role model for the group.
The next part of the project is for David and three other participants to travel overseas for 10 weeks to take part in community work, environmental actions and an adventure phase in Malaysia. This is through a charity called Raleigh International. David has attended two UK residential trips in preparation for the overseas trip, including a trip to East Grinstead, mid December with Flu, which shows his commitment to the project
Next he will be heading off to North Borneo to build a nursery school/community centre for a small village where the children currently walk up to 2 hours to attend school. He will then spend 3 weeks developing an eco lodge and community marine park to assist local fishermen. The areas are remote and mainly untouched and the group will camp wild, ensuring the have a minimal impact on the local surroundings which will include leaving nothing behind.
David is looking forward to these new and challenging situations and building on his team working, leadership, planning, problem-solving skills. He is also looking forward to seeing remote places that very few tourists get to see, making lifelong friends amongst a diverse group of people and getting pride and satisfaction from helping others.
If you would like more information or feel you can support David and the Motivate project, please give the Project Youth Worker, Jaine Crompton a call on 0777 904 6263
David has now embarked on his trip to Malaysia armed with 25 Hankinson T-Shirts, and he goes with all our very best wishes
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