Volunteer Elsa Arnold, who has been lending a helping hand to children doing their schoolwork while helping those suffering with mental health during the coronavirus pandemic, is this month’s Young Citizen nominee.
The 18-year-old from Wanstead was also nominated two years ago for The Recorder/Redbridge Rotary Club Young Citizen Award but since then she has done much more.
The Diana Award anti-bullying ambassador has started hosting Zoom sessions with children struggling with their school work, started a campaign with workshops to promote kindness in the community, as well as helping people struggling with mental health issues.
“I was meant to take my A-levels this summer, so when exams were cancelled and this all started I was a bit like oh my gosh, what am I going to do for however long,” Elsa said.
READ MORE: June nominee for Young Citizen“I decided to offer support for children or students with their school work online, so I spend every day of every week doing Zoom sessions with kids, and helping them with their work or teaching them new things. It has been a great way to spend the time as well as trying to do stuff like a community mental health video.”
Elsa has also organised for children to make cards and gifts for elderly people in care homes.
“The idea didn’t necessarily take off like I had thought, I think other people have been doing that a bit more. I’ve done a lot to do with mental health, we just released our community mental health video, which is really cool.
“I also really struggled with my mental health on the back of experiencing bullying and I just wanted to help other people that were in similar situations or even prevent similar things happening to other people. I wanted to turn a negative experience into something positive.”
READ MORE: Young Citizen of the Year winner for 2019/20
Our Young Citizen competition celebrates the young people of Redbridge, aged 25 and under. Each month’s nominee will be invited to the Mayor’s Community Awards night in March and an overall winner will be announced.
The winner will receive £100 from Redbridge Rotary Club and will, along with the runner-up, go through to the national Young Citizen final run by Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland. To nominate, visit www.redbridgerotaryclub.org/contact giving information about the nominee and contact details, or email roy.chacko@archant.co.uk.
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