Discover the Adventures of Lorena, Federica and Diego

Here at Church Urban Fund, it's always a blast having motivated volunteers around the office. During the last three weeks we've had the pleasure of hosting a trio of cheerful Italians.

It all started with a project proposed by their school back in Italy. The idea behind their work experience was to introduce them to the working life.

LORENA MARTIRE & FEDERICA MORREALE

Lorena’s experience at CUF was fundamental to improve her technical skills. As she told us in her interview “… I’ve improved my abilities during those three weeks: I’m more aware of how a database works and I learnt how to use a graphic design software ...”. On the other hand, Federica appreciated the more personal part of the experience: “…I’ve learnt how to behave in a work environment, how to communicate with my colleagues and how a meeting takes place

… We will go back to Italy with a deep knowledge on how charities work and on how they are managed on a day to day basis.”

London’s frenetic life can be pretty overwhelming to some, to escape the buzz the the volunteers visited museums, most especially enjoyed the National Gallery and the Frida Kahlo’s exhibition at the V&A.

THEIR FAVORITE MOMENT

"Our favourite moment at CUF was by far the day in which we went with our co-workers to have lunch at Westminster Abbey’s cloisters. It was a lovely chance to learn more about the work they do and get to know them better. We chatted a laughed a lot and in that moment we felt very fortunate to be able to work with a team like that."

DIEGO CORSITTO

In his interview he said: “I decided to volunteer here because I thought it was a chance to improve my English, my communication skills and to acquire some work experience, as well as to use my summer productively”.
For sure Diego managed to achieve those goals at the end of the three weeks!

Diego most enjoyed learning how to run Facebook Ads,he also valued the time he spent learning how to manage files and import data: “…my job was to sort out the data of the various donors so to make it simpler for all the employees to find them, I checked all the issues of a new website and reported them to our manager, reporting what had to be fixed or improved.”

Diego said: “CUF helped me overcome my shyness, I understood that communication is a big part of being part of a working team.”

DIEGO’S FAVOURITE MOMENTS

"One of my two favourite moments at CUF was by far attending a meeting, it was interesting and fun, I've learned about marketing and money management while having a laugh and I think there's nothing better than increasing one’s knowledge while having some fun. My second favourite moment was when Sam made me try Coffee, at the beginning I was perplexed but I liked it in the end, even though I put an absurd amount of sugar in it."

Here at CUF we know that all good moments come to an end and it was tough to say goodbye to Diego, Federica and Lorena.

Calling all students:

If you want to get involved, you can do as many or as few hours as you wish to. Please just contact Sam Low at 0207 898 1645 or sam.low@cuf.org.uk