St Vincent's Support Centre Newsletter Summer 2015 | Page 5

Learning
in the
Dales
St Vincent’s education programme
includes exciting alternative learning
experiences. Learners and volunteers
visited the Yorkshire Dales to
discover more about Yorkshire and
improve their English speaking skills.
Volunteer tutor Jonathan helped out
on the trip, and had his own learning
experiences.
The idea of working without getting paid
can be a shocking concept to some
people, but that doesn’t take account of
the accidental good things that happen
through volunteering that you can’t
measure in money. I get so many of
these ‘unquantifiable in terms of money’
good feelings from the people I meet at
St Vincent’s, and the lambing trip was
just an extra layer on top of that.
It was a beautiful day, and we saw the
Dales at their best, but the highlight for
me had to be delivering a lamb. The
farmer offered to let one of us pull the
lamb out of its mother, and no-one else
volunteered, I thought ‘Why not? I may
never get the chance again’. I found I
didn’t mind the mess, because I was
on a high just from being there at a new
birth. When the new lamb tried to walk
after only a couple of minutes I really
wanted it to succeed, as if it really was
my own child.
I think that ‘high’ lasted all week, I’ve
told anyone who’ll listen about how I
delivered a baby lamb. And so that’s
the point of voluntary work I think. Not
only are you doing something useful to
help others, but sometimes alongside
the thing that you’re volunteering at,
really amazing and accidental things
can happen, which make you feel really,
really good, and you realise that you’re a
part of something special.

Jonathan
and one of
the lambs

You can Bank
on Denise!

St Vincent’s own Denise Carpenter
is UK Money Adviser of the Year!
Denise won this prestigious award
from the Institute of Money Advisers
at their annual awards ceremony,
recognising her skill and her
dedication to her work.
Denise has been with the St Vincent’s
debt team for nine years. In this time
she has helped hundreds of people
to manage their debts and escape
poverty. One of Denise’s
clients explained the difference
Denise’s help made, “nothing
is too much trouble for her.
She explains things and makes
phone calls for me as I am a bit
deaf. I was struggling through
years of debt repayment, now
I am able to look to the future.
I realised there are people out
there you can rely on.”
St Vincent’s Debt Manager
Susan Docherty said:
“At a time when all advice
services in Leeds are being
totally stretched, Denise still,

somehow, manages to support and
advise some of the most vulnerable
and destitute people in Leeds.”
Susan explained the importance of
money advice “austerity measures
have hit the poorest hard. In a time
of despair a helping hand from a
local debt adviser like Denise can
give someone the help, hope and
opportunity to turn things around.”

Denise collects her award

Jonathan
Volunteer Teaching Assistant
St Vincent’s Newsletter Summer 2015 Page5