I work at Changing Futures North East , my role is to support people from all walks of life to volunteer and help out in our Independent Visitor project. Changing Futures is a charity that works in Teesside to help families, children, young people & parents to have supportive, safe and nurturing relationships. My work specifically focuses on working with children & young people who live in care (such as in foster care or in a children's residential home) in the Independent Visitor project.CFNE first started working with the Volun-Tees team to support students into fulfilling volunteering roles around 4 years ago. Since then the relationship between CFNE and the team has grown massively. Volun-tees plays a key role in helping vulnerable children have people around them who care and listen to them. Volun-tees has sent numerous students over to volunteer at CFNE.University volunteers help the charity in the IV project, where they befriend & support children living in care. This means video calling them on a regular basis & prior to COVID-19 meeting up twice a month to do fun activities such as bowling. The most important impact the student volunteers have within the charity is the positive experiences and memories they build with the young person they support. The student volunteers build up trusting, safe relationship with children who have suffered a lot of family & relationship breakdown. I would advise organisations to speak with the Volun-tees team about what they are looking for in volunteers, communicate and be honest about what is/ isn’t required in a candidate. Teesside university students have improved the lives of local children through volunteering with CFNE and would highly recommend other local organisations to engage with what Teesside university students have to offer.