Club Mission Wins Prestigious Award

Our Club Mission team, who have spent much of the last year demonstrating God's love to students in the union, has been voted the ‘Team of the Year’ at the Loughborough Experience awards. It was an incredible surprise for us, not least because there were only 3 other nominees, all of which are fantastic, well established committees;  RAG (recently praised by David Cameron in the House of Commons for raising over £1 million this year), AU Exec (for winning BUSA again) and SOC FED (who organise and manage all 59 LSU clubs and societies).

"The Loughborough Experience Award was set up …to recognise, and reward the students who put a lot of effort into life at Loughborough".(1) It's an evening of publicly honouring people who have gone above and beyond to contribute to 'The Loughborough Experience’ which has, in turn, enabled Loughborough to win the prestigious Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) award for the Best Student Experience 4 years running.

So even just being nominated was a fantastic honour, particularly as it affirmed that we are now a real part of university life and solidified the idea that Open Heaven students are now in partnership with the Union Exec and Venue Management.

Then Jamie Morgado, Vice President: Democracy & Communications, got up to present the award: presented the award.  We were fortunate to be sent a copy of his speech which went like this:

"The winner of this award has had no easy job this year, overcoming challenges that many students wouldn’t be able to deal with. This team is highly committed - volunteering every week contributing further more towards the Loughborough Experience. This team is built on strong friendships, passion and a natural desire to better student life.

The team of the year has proved popular amongst both students and staff at Loughborough Students Union and has become a real asset to the organisation. They are enthusiastic and hardworking where no job is ever too small for them, regularly recognised as working just as hard as paid members of staff.

I am proud to have the privilege to present the award of team of the year 2009/2010 to:

CLUB MISSION!!”

I recognise for many of you reading this you were already aware of the punch line to this story but for us it was something of a surprise! This was not an award just to Club Mission but to Open Heaven students, past and present.

We found out that we 'd been nominated by someone on the Union Exec and by the Union Venue Manager. What they wrote in support of their nominations (which is included below) is both touching and inspiring.

The nominations then went to a panel of judges including the  LSU president, the Alumni Association, the Senior Warden, Director of Student Services and the Registrar! These people live for the Loughborough Experience more than anyone else, and they decided that Open Heaven students deserved to be recognised for their contributions.... amazing.

So thanks to everyone who has supported us this year, be it through turning up on Friday nights, praying for us, or just supporting us through your friendship. Please keep doing it. It really is making a huge difference.

Ben, Hannah, Jamie, Michelle, Natalie, Paul and Sarah

============

The full nominations read like this;

1. “Club Mission has been working in partnership with LSU for over two years. Started as a monthly mission and now has become a regular Friday night event.  Club Mission operate a chill out room which allows student to come along and chill at FND.  This has proved popular by student and staff alike.  In addition, they patrol inside and out of the building assisting clients who are distressed or inebriated and helping them receive the correct care and attention needed.  Club Mission has taken ownership of their role and is an asset to a FND night and continue to strive to become bigger and better.  They are professional, enthusiastic and hard working.  No job is too small! Their water and banana give a ways are a lot peoples savers at the end of the night (including mine!). I doubt this role could be achieved by any paid member of staff.   

Club Mission also help out on other events held by LSU – Such as Freefest, they never hesitate to come down and help out.- they work as hard as people that are being paid, they never let us down.

On a personal note: Club Mission has honestly stolen the hearts of all Venue staff. And are welcomed with open arms into our FND team.  We could never repay them for their hard work.”

2. “The Loughborough Experience Award recognises individuals or groups that improve the uni career of others; I think that Club Mission fulfils this entirely. They have created a chill out room in the middle of a busy night club. They have created something to look after people when they are at their most vulnerable, when they have had too much to drink. They do what they do to serve others; instead of going out with their mates on a Friday night they ensure that everyone else is having a great time. They deal with the individuals, they look after Loughborough Students one person at a time.

I can’t think of any other group of people that are looking to volunteer to serve Loughborough students in this way. And at all times they don’t seek any recognition or praise, they just humbly get on with it.”

Please Pray for:

1.       The new Student Union exec and Open Heaven’s partnership with the Union.

2.       The new Club Mission cluster and leaders.

3.       God’s will to be done in the union. 

Posted by: Paul Humphreys on Friday Aug 13th, 2010

Comments

Logged-in members can post comments on openheaven.org news articles.

Back