What do you associate with the word volunteering? Well think again! Throw away that stereotype and find out for your self what a life changing experience it could be.

Millennium Volunteers is an organisation that specialises in making volunteering a challenging vocation that enhances your talents and skills. Alison Lamb is the project co-ordinator at Millennium Volunteers and has helped transform the stereotype attached to volunteering into an educational experience.

This involves finding placements for young people aged 16-24, setting up new youth led projects, providing support for young people with special needs. This was set up in November 1999 and is funded by the department for education and skills. It is based at the Volunteer Bureau on Suez Street in Warrington Town Centre.

The aim of this project was to encourage young people to volunteer. Figures indicated that 16-24 year olds did not see volunteering as top of their priority list. The Warrington community was suffering because of this and wanted the young people to explore new skills and use them in various volunteer projects that could benefit the community.

Millennium Volunteers have veered away from traditional projects such as working in charity shops and old people's homes to organised dances, festivals, interior design, and web site design as well as working in charity shops and working with children.

Millennium Volunteers looks to the future. Alison links volunteer work with career ideas, as she is interested in how this challenge will benefit the individual as well as the community. People have made videos, newsletters; web sites that have all benefited someone or an organisation.

A rafting expedition as organised by the Millennium Volunteers

This has been very successful in the Warrington area and has brought a new light to the concept of volunteering.

Over 150 people have received awards for their efforts. A person can receive an award by doing a hundred hours of work in a year. If a person achieves two hundred hours of work over a year a person receives an excellence award, which is given by Estelle Morris, Secretary of education.

This requires commitment and a consistency of four hours a week. If this is achieved it is recognised by employers and educational establishments and adds spice to your C.V.

This has had a significant impact on the Warrington community especially at the Association for Special Children. Millennium volunteers are responsible for their summer schemes, which allow the children to get outside into the sunshine and be involved in various activities.

Without Millennium Volunteers the children would not experience the excitement they share each summer.

One individual had a positive effect on a Warrington hostel. His role was that of an interior designer and his responsibility was to decorate each room on a budget of £60 per room. He used his creativity and many skills to transform the hostel by working with the residents.

Because of this project the residents have gained a certain amount of respect for where they live and keep the rooms looking nice. Some residents have taken the skills learnt during this time and used them to decorate their own places.

Alison said: "It has given them a better understanding of what is achievable."

The feedback is very positive and organisations have enjoyed working with the young people, but it can also benefit the individual. Once a volunteer has finished their project they fill out a form stating what they have learnt.

This gives Alison a chance to see how millennium volunteers have impacted their lives, she said: "It can help build up their confidence, gives the individual a chance to network, meet new people, it has helped people with careers and career ideas."

If you think you are up for a challenge and are not sure where your career or educational path is going then this could be the answer. It could not only benefit you but also allow you to give something back to the community where you live and experience meeting new people engaging in activities in the media, sports, business, charity organisations and many more.