Leon volunteered for the charity to gain work experience, and left recently to take up employment. He is in his mid-twenties, has a degree in Computer Studies, and lives with Asperger's Syndrome, which made it harder for him to gain work. However his work for the charity has been excellent, and of great value to us. Happily it worked out well for Leon too. In his own words:

"Hi there. I am Leon. To gain some work experience and fill up my CV, my advisor at National Autistic Society Prospects Employment Service went through Do It, a website which lists charities in the local area looking for volunteers. After e-mailing my CV to the charity in February 2009, I got a reply from Emma who then introduced me to Jan who is the Database Coordinator for the charity.

Jan started me off easy by getting me to research addresses of companies and type them into a spreadsheet. I then learnt how to use the database and add information there, ranging from donations and shop orders to addresses of marathon runners. When I started volunteering, I signed a confidentiality agreement and I refrain from breaking this, as I work solely with personal information.

Everyone was friendly and helpful at the charity. The new office was a bit scary at first as it is a little hard to find on a map, and you need a key card for nearly every corridor. However, once you're used to all that everything is fine.

As a volunteer, you can work as many hours as you like. As well as helping the charity to complete administrative tasks, it also adds to your CV that you're not just sitting around watching Jeremy Kyle and I have gained experience in the following skills:

    * Working in an office environment
    * Researching information
    * Data Entry
    * Working with an eye for detail
    * Working with confidential information

Other ways I support the charity are: donating a percentage of the selling price of items I put up on ebay, as well as recycling ink cartridges."    

Leon was a very valued member of our team here at CBC, and is genuinely missed.  That said, everyone was delighted when he found the skilled paid work he thouroughly deserved.  We wish him great luck in the future with his career, and hope he keeps in touch.