Firstly, can you tell us a little about who Oxfam are and what you do?
We’re a charity society within Nottingham University! Our main aim is to raise money and awareness for Oxfam’s worldwide campaigns.
Sounds great! What campaigns are you currently supporting?
Currently we’re supporting the Ebola Crisis. We went to a conference in Oxford to learn about the campaign itself and how we can help to meet the needs of those affected. Since then we’ve done fundraising activities on campus and have been trying to raise awareness. We’re also supporting the Inequality Campaign at the moment, which works to lessen the gap between the most rich and the most poor in the country. We recently headed out into Nottingham to ask people what inequality means to them. It was great for raising awareness, but also trying to find out what peoples’ opinions are so we can best help.
How did you become involved with the society and why did you want to be Publicity Secretary?
I joined the society in my second year of university just because I had friends which were in it – it was a really fun society to be a part of and it felt like I could contribute something worthwhile. I was also working at the Oxfam bookshop in my second year as well so I thought I’d try out for a role on the exec!
What kind of events does Oxfam put on?
We put on a range of events! We’ve done charity pub quizzes which are really social. We also did an open mic night at Ropewalk in collaboration with the Song Writing Society to raise money for the Ebola Crisis which was really fun! We have film nights and we did a bar crawl recently too in collaboration with other charity societies so it was really lovely to get to know them a bit better.
Is there anything in particular we should look out for this term?
Our main event coming up is a clothes swap which will support the Inequality Campaign. We did it last year and it was really fun! Everyone brings clothes and then you get to take the same number of items away with you afterwards!
What is your biggest achievement as a society?
Last year we we’re involved with Oxjam Beeston which is a national music festival which runs in different cities across the UK. Beeston was really successful – we raised over £10,000, which was more successful than some of the bigger cities so we were really proud!
How can we get involved with Oxfam?
Anyone can join and membership is only £1! You can just come to the social events, or you can volunteer at events if you want to. We put people in contact with the Oxfam shops in Nottingham and we also keep in contact with head office and tell people about internship opportunities as well! You can find us on Facebook or come to refreshers fair!
Images sources:
http://www.horlix.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/oxjam-beeston-banner.jpg
All other images courtesy of Oxfam Nottingham.