A young mum who overcame a traumatic childhood to now help other children aim for a better future is the winner of the £3,000 Leicestershire First Young Achiever Award.
Kirsty Dunkley, 19, from Beaumont Leys in Leicester, is the charity’s first winner of its Young Achiever Award. The Award comes with a £3,000 prize to donate to a Leicestershire charity; Kirsty has chosen Open Door Leicester charity, a free and confidential counselling service for young people aged 11 to 25. Kirsty herself first turned to Open Door Leicester when she was just 13 years old.
The Leicestershire First charity, set up this year to find and celebrate nine unsung local heroes each year, chose Kirsty because of her help for other young people.
Kirsty, who has a two year old daughter Skye Moosa, attended the Connexions GOAL project for 14 to 16 year olds. Now she is hoping to study for a degree at De Montfort University after volunteering to work on the GOAL project. Kirsty was offered a place at DMU to do the foundation degree in youth work, a place she hopes to take up next year if funds allow.
Kirsty studied for an NVQ Level 2 in Youth Work and volunteered three days a week for a year with the GOAL project. In group and one-to-one sessions with youngsters she has helped more than 100 young people. Kirsty even helped three young people achieve their own qualification in youth work.
Kirsty said: “Having been through a lot of the same experiences as the young people, I became a peer mentor and was able to empathise. I was in care three times, left school without qualifications and was a young mum but managed to motivate myself through all the challenges that were presented to me. I really wanted to make something of my life.”
She said she was amazed she had won the Leicestershire First Award: “I couldn’t believe it. I have never won anything before. I was so happy just to be nominated.”
Kirsty was nominated for the Leicestershire First award by Kiran Kala, projects manager at Connexions Leicestershire. Kiran said: “Her contribution in supporting young people in Leicester has been extremely valuable. She thoroughly deserves this award.”
Kirsty says she chose Open Door Leicester to receive the £3,000 because of how it supported her when she was low: “It helped me when I was in care and was having problems. They listened to me. And now they are helping a lot of other young people.”
Open Door Leicester project manager Angela Thompson said: “I think this award is brilliant. Kirsty was just 13 when she came to see us. Now she’s all grown up, successful and contributing to others. We’re all very proud of her.”
Angela said the £3,000 will be used to make a film about Open Door Leicester to help other young people see what the service can do for them and how, like Kirsty, they can have a successful future.”
Raakhee Varia, assistant training and development worker for Leicester City Council’s Youth Service, said: “Ever since I met Kirsty I’ve known there was something special about her. She is really positive and has the energy and motivation to want to learn. With her experience she has so much to give to other young people. She has achieved so much in such a short space of time.”
Presenting the award to Kirsty at the Barleycroft Youth Centre, where Kirsty does some of her work with young people, was Helen Collins, who won the inaugural Leicestershire First prize back in June for her work with the choir from the Lancaster School in Knighton.
Helen, who now teaches at Countesthorpe, said: “Kirsty is doing excellent work for her community. She’s a great role model, proving that if you put in hard work and have determination and ambition you can achieve anything.”
Hits Vithlani, the manager at the Barleycroft Youth Centre in Beaumont Leys, said: “Kirsty is great at building rapport and shines really brightly as a very good role model. Other young people can look at Kirsty and her winning this excellent award and think they too can achieve something like that.”
Leicestershire First is a charity launched in June at County Hall by Maurice and Vivien Thompson, a couple from Leicestershire who want to encourage and celebrate giving and good citizenship. Each year nine awards will be given to reward and promote the values of leadership, excellence and citizenship in the county. For each prize the money must be donated to Leicestershire charities. Anyone can visit www.leicestershirefirst.org.uk to make a nomination.
Maurice Thompson, of Lubenham, said Kirsty is a great winner of the Young Achiever Award: “Kirsty’s story is inspiring. She has overcome obstacles and met challenges which could have been overwhelming, and now shows others facing similar problems that they can succeed in life.”
Nominations for three more Leicestershire First Awards – for Achievement in the Arts and Music, Leadership and Achievement in Sport – can be made now. For details of how to nominate, call Leicestershire First on 0116 249 5330 or visit the website www.leicestershirefirst.org.uk
Highly commended in the Young Achiever Award were: Shabaana Kidy from Oadby, for her inter-faith work at Beauchamp College; and Milli Bhojani of Hamilton, for her work against bullying and discrimination.
If you have any questions about Leicestershire First and the awards please call Andy Gilgrist on 01536 772256 or 07989 562517 or email: info@leicestershirefirst.org.uk