{"id":1268,"date":"2015-08-24T14:59:01","date_gmt":"2015-08-24T13:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.andrewwickscreative.co.uk\/clients\/nsif-dev\/?post_type=news&p=1268"},"modified":"2026-03-17T11:51:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T11:51:27","slug":"a-teens-perspective-my-week-at-nsif","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.andrewwickscreative.co.uk\/clients\/nsif-dev\/news\/a-teens-perspective-my-week-at-nsif\/","title":{"rendered":"A teen\u2019s perspective: My week at nsif"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arrival Education<\/a> is a social enterprise that develops young people and encourages social mobility. Star student Nowell Crooks, 16, volunteered at nsif for a week as part of his Arrival Education programme. Here, he gives the lowdown on getting involved with a charity. <\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the course of the past week, I’ve been working with the amazing team at nsif and finding out more about them and their cause. For the uninitiated, nsif is one of the few charities that focuses all its efforts on researching a cure for paralysis brought about by spinal cord injuries. Although they are a modest team of six, the waves they’ve made in the field of paralysis treatment are anything but. Their work is based around raising funds to support research carried out by Professor Geoffrey Raisman and Doctor Pawel Tabakow. Raisman is a visionary who dared to believe that paralysis is reversible and Tabakow is the surgeon who made a massive breakthrough in the clinical application of his research. Using olfactory ensheathing cells, they were able to reconnect severed long spinal nerve fibres. However, without the funding they received from nsif\u00a0 – and other partners – this wouldn\u2019t have been possible. With further funding, their ground-breaking efforts could lead to a cure for paralysis from spinal cord injury.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Everyone has the power to change the world but few actually use it. To change that, we need to start with young people. Currently, 58% of 16-24 year olds (myself included) do nothing for any cause in a typical month, according to the Charities Aid Foundation<\/a>. I know some young people buck the trend \u2013 nsif has some incredible young supporters \u2013 but I still think there\u2019s untapped potential in my generation. There’s plenty of generosity out there that just needs an avenue to be expressed. If charities are going to be able to rely on a steady stream of donations from habitual givers then they need to get the younger generation into the swing of things early.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

From my perspective, there are primarily three things preventing young people from giving to charity:<\/span><\/strong>\\r\\n<\/p>\n