My name is Ana Almeida, I am a 19-year-old Public Relations and Communications student at the University of Greenwich.

During my last year of High School, I spent a lot of time on Instagram and because of that I started reading a lot about social problems that the world was facing, mainly about the problem’s women face in society. Throughout all my life I learned that we leave a legacy in the world and I have always wanted mine to involve making a difference in at least one person’s life. My love for the fight for equality for all and my wish to make an impact was so strong that I knew that once I graduated, I wanted to work for a charity at least for a while, so when I had the amazing opportunity to join Give Us Time I didn’t think twice before applying.

When I say I didn’t think twice, that’s kind of a lie, I had to do some research and when I found out that their objective is to help people, specifically, military personnel that struggle everyday with mental health issues, I was more than happy to apply. And I am glad I did, after my interview I knew for a fact that Give Us Time was a charity that worked hard to help others, that was their only objective, make sure that they could help as many people as possible.

Working with Give Us Time not only has been great in giving me knowledge about the charity sector but I have also had the great opportunity to develop new skills that will help me in my degree and future endeavours, such as, creating social media content and writing skills.

Why do you think it’s important to volunteer for a charity?

For me it is important to volunteer for a charity because it is important to give back. When I was in high school my brother had cancer and one time my mum was stopped by volunteers asking for donations for a charity focused on cancer research and that’s how we learned that those donations where making it possible for my brother to have his free treatment.

Knowing that there are people that take their time to help others they don’t even know and being at the receiving end of this help made me extremely grateful so being able to work for a charity and doing work that will help others is something that, ever since, has been a goal of mine.