Make A Smile is a charity that recognizes the huge role cartoon characters and comic book heroes have in shaping the childhood of young children, and that those who may be mentally or physically impaired often face hardships in terms of interacting or communicating with such characters. As a result, we offer a safe, friendly, inclusive atmosphere to take their minds away from the hardships and give them the opportunity to play and interact with their idols.
In terms of training our volunteers, we provide several different training sessions, allowing our volunteers to expand their skillset and interact better with all children. There are a few roles to choose from;
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Character - They will attend events in costume and may have skits to act out. They will also be involved in playing games, chatting and just interacting with the children.
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Magic Maker - They will attend the events not in costume but will still be involved in playing games and interacting with the children.
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Imagineer - They do not have to attend the events, but instead will be involved in running it from behind the scenes.
If you love working with kids and dressing up this would be perfect for you, along with the chance to be offered training in different skills such as our volunteers are offered training in British sign language, autism awareness, confidentiality, non-verbal communication, improvisation, and many more. Apart from the training, volunteers will only have to dedicate around 2-3 hours per event.
Contact govolunteer.union@newcastle.ac.uk for more information