YOUTHS RECOMMEND CHANGES TO MAUK’S ELDERS SERVICE

What’s the best way to get closer to Elders in our community ?

Two teenagers from Ilford,  Aswin Varma & Janish Pillai, recently completed a three month work placement at MAUK focussing on MAUK’s flagship service the Elders Lunch Club.

They spent a month during their summer holidays, working as a volunteer helping run the lunch club and during this time they talked to the Elders who use the service, conducted surveys, produced key findings and recommended improvements to the service. They produced a detailed report, and then on the 27th Oct 12  presented their findings to the MAUK Director Board, who will now look to implementing the recommendations.

Key recommendations were:

• Listening to the Elders by running quarterly surveys run independently
• Have more trips
• Better quality of food (healthier)
• Modernise the accounting process
• Look at Private sponsorship to fund the lunch club.

Both Aswin (pictured on the right) and Janish, lead this project in a professional manner (with guidance from professionals in the project management field)– with objectives, project plan, monitoring the plan, report production, graphical representations and presenting their findings via power point presentations to the MAUK board. They feel this project has improved their communication, researching, organisational and presentation skills – which will immensely help them in their future careers e.g. university personal statement, CVs etc. Additionally, it has bought them much closer to the Elders of the community.

If you want to know more about what Aswin and Janish did, and if you are looking for voluntary experience (with a mentor to guide you), MAUK can help. Let us know.