Tracey’s Story

Tracey Hanson is 24 and has been volunteering at a crèche for about a year. Tracey signed up to Millennium Volunteers a few months ago as she liked the idea of achieving certificates for her volunteering and has already achieved her 100 hours.

Tracey tells her volunteering story from 2002 when she first became a wheelchair user and the events that followed which led to her becoming a volunteer. Before the Christmas of 2002, Tracey was a qualified coach for football and rugby, coaching her own football team and was asked to train with Arsenal ladies team. After Tracey collapsed at Christmas there was a lot that she had to relearn, such as learning to write and to swim again and she also has difficulty remembering some things from the past.

As Tracey had previously been a keen sports woman, the day centre that she now attended was very supportive in putting her in touch with the National Performance Manager for disabled sports. Through this Tracey was invited to train with the Paralympics team for the shot, discus and javelin.

Since then Tracey have achieved many medals from the Belgian championships, the Manchester open championships and the CP-ISRA World Championships.

These days, Tracey can be found going to schools giving talks on disability awareness and volunteering at a crèche. This is what Tracey says about her volunteering;

“I decided to do voluntary work in the crèche because I enjoy working with children. I do voluntary work three times a week and since I have done voluntary work it has helped with my confidence and self esteem.
I like helping in the crèche because it is rewarding when you see the children having achieved new milestones.

My biggest achievement to date was when a little boy in the crèche had a speaking impediment and found it hard communicating to others, but started talking to me as he gained trust in me. I have learnt how to help with children’s hygiene and look after young children generally; this will give me a good basis for when I have my own children. I have also learnt how to work as a team member and communicate properly in the work place as I have to help with the keeping
of the daily logs. I have also learnt how to work within the data protection act.

I really enjoy doing voluntary work as I have gained a lot more confidence and I have become a more positive person. I would recommend voluntary work to others as it is really satisfying and rewarding."