Last week, we were pleased and honoured to share the news that Josh Macfarlane has been awarded the highest honour of the British Red Cross: the Dunant Award.
Josh joined us at RCN in August 2016 as our annual Red Cross EVS volunteer. He comes to us with a wealth of experience and training with the British Red Cross, being an active volunteer since 2012, including his work with the Wrexham Welfare project, which won him and his team the award. The Wrexham Welfare team dedicate their time to serving their community every Saturday, from 10pm to 5am, offering first aid assistance, and general welfare support, which involves anything from psychosocial support to giving out flip flops to women finding it hard to walk in their high heels – and therefore reducing the risk of falling and injuring themselves. The Wrexham Welfare project truly demonstrates the core values of the Red Cross – responding to the most pressing needs of the community and offering help where help is needed in an empathetic, humanitarian and non-judgemental manner. We were so pleased to hear that this important voluntary work with the British Red Cross is being recognised, and hope that Josh passes on our sincerest congratulations to the rest of his team back in the UK
Here at RCN, when he has not been busy in his role as Leirskule assistant, Josh has been working hard on helping us to develop our own Red Cross portfolio. He takes an active hand in helping to manage the RC Youth Group, and has been involved in developing our work with Sogn og Fjordane Red Cross’s Stop the Violence project. Josh also helped to develop our partnership with the Sogn og Fjordane Red Cross’ biannual youth camp, which has been extremely popular with the students: a role which is now managed by Josh’s EVS successor Jennifer Griffiths. Josh also assisted with the Red Cross’s Ferie for Alle scheme, which provides holiday opportunities for people in the local area with less financial stability. We are extremely pleased to have recruited Josh now as a member of staff, working full time in the Leirskule department and in the kitchen. Luckily for us, Josh keeps an experienced hand in the Red Cross Youth project, and we look forward to developing more projects with him in the future. Having such an experienced and committed volunteer on board is a great asset, and we hope that his commitment to the core values of the Red Cross will be a source of inspiration to the student body.
Well done on your great news Josh – we are so proud to have you with us.
