Inspiring young people make a global difference with the help of JHMT

INSPIRING young people who want to take their talents worldwide have been awarded grants from the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust (JHMT).

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Dev Sharma, Mae Holmes, Alejandro Argüelles Bullón, Lucy Whitaker and Millie O’Connell have all received grants from the local charity to help them fulfil their ambitions and share their skills with others.

The JHMT was set up in memory of Leicester teenager Joe Humphries, who collapsed and died in October 2012 while out jogging near his family home in Rothley, Leicestershire. Joe was a victim of sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS) – a group of lethal heart diseases which can cause sudden cardiac death in young people. The JHMT provides free CPR training, helps to fund community defibrillators and campaigns for better understanding of SADS.

JHMT Inspire Awards of up to £500 are handed out to young people aged 13-21 from Leicester and Leicestershire to help them fulfill their ambitions in the fields of music, arts, sports, entrepreneurism and community endeavour. Since the awards’ inception in 2014, more than £30,000 has been awarded to help 160 young people to do some amazing things.

Dev Sharma, 14, from Thurmaston, has been awarded £350 to take part in a four-week educational expedition to Botswana and Zambia next summer. He’ll be working alongside local people to renovate a school.

Dev, who is also a member of Leicester Young People’s Council, has to raise £3,500 for the trip. He said: “This grant has been a great help. My passion is making a positive difference to communities and now I am able to pursue it.”

Mae Holmes, a sport and exercise science student, is one of three students from Loughborough University to receive an Inspire Award for their participation in the Volunteer Zambia 2019 programme. Mae, who has a £200 grant, said: “We’ll be coaching netball to communities and schools in Zambia, bringing our sporting knowledge and sharing our passion for the sport. I just want to say a huge thank-you to JHMT for supporting me.”

Spanish student Alejandro Argüelles Bullón is studying sport and exercise psychology at Loughborough, and has been given a £200 grant to help him teach sport as a life skill in Zambia. Fellow student Lucy Whitaker, 17, will be helping to deliver the coaching too, focusing on netball. She too has been awarded a £200 Inspire grant.

Sixteen-year-old Millie O’Connell, from Loughborough, has been awarded £300 towards her charity expedition to Sumatra next year. Millie will be re-planting parts of the rainforest that have been destroyed by palm oil farming, to help protect the endangered Sumatran orangutan species.

“There are currently fewer than 15,000 orangutans surviving in the wild due to habitat loss and poaching,” says Millie. “I hope my expedition will be a step in the right direction towards improving these shocking figures.”

Simon Taylor, Inspire Award lead, said: “These five are a great example to other young people and to all of us. They demonstrate an admirable and truly inspiring commitment to other people’s lives. In short, they care!

“Coaching, developing and inspiring other young people is at the heart of what the Inspire Awards are about and we are delighted to support these five dedicated and motivated young people.”

To find out more about the work of JHMT and the Inspire Awards, visit www.jhmt.org.uk