The fashion guru Gok Wan was in Manchester recently to launch this year’s Vodafone World of Difference Campaign; Wan is the ambassador for the scheme which gives people in the UK the chance to work for a charity of their choice for two months and get paid for it.

The event was attended by individuals eager to get involved in the scheme as well as previous years’ winners and charities who had benefited from the scheme.  One such individual was Heidi Hinchcliffe, a 2009 winner.  Heidi now works full time as a project leader for one of the iNspire hub charities, ReachOut!  Heidi was already volunteering when she applied for the scheme however, she wanted to work with young people and through the scheme was placed with ReachOut!  Xavier Bosch, CEO of ReachOut! believes World of Difference is a unique opportunity for charities too.

ReachOut! (http://www NULL.reachoutuk NULL.org/HTML/index NULL.html) is a mentoring charity working with young people in deprived areas to raise aspirations and help them grow in character and competence.  The charity recruits positive student role models to join flexible projects in various schools around Manchester.

The Vodafone World of Difference (http://worldofdifference NULL.vodafone NULL.co NULL.uk/) programme is about making a difference by working for your dream charity without the worry of having to make financial sacrifices.  The programme gives 500 people this fantastic opportunity.