We’re absolutely thrilled to announce that YMCA Crewe’s ex-resident and superstar volunteer Cat has been shortlisted for a national Volunteer of the Year award at this year’s Youth Matters awards. You can read Cat’s story below!
Cat, who lived at the YMCA Crewe for nearly two years, has spent a great deal of time and effort volunteering at the GLO Cafe during the pandemic. Her mental health made it difficult initially to get up on time and come to all her shifts, but she showed a fantastic talent for working with customers – encouraging them to try new things – and took an interest in people’s feedback to make the cafe even better.
Her abilities extended to working with the manager to develop new dishes and share ideas for making improvements. She also worked on her reliability and turned up on time for her shifts, five days a week, becoming an integral member of the team.
Moving into her own flat at Christmas was a huge achievement for Cat – and it hasn’t taken her away from the cafe. Although it takes her an hour to walk there now, she still works four days a week, making sure customers are happy and acting as a mentor to other volunteers.
The energy and commitment have been invaluable to the cafe and she has helped to make it the well-run, thriving environment it is.
Congratulations on being shortlisted Cat, and on your fantastic achievements this year!
