Voices is the Dorset Echo's weekly youth page, written for young people by young people.

In our contemporary society, the true meaning of volunteering can be lost through selfish, egocentric and misguided reasons.

Today, I think most people are only volunteering to boost their CV, for university or their next job. But we need to realise that we shouldn’t volunteer for ourselves – but for others.

That’s why we, the National Citizenship Service (NCS) Team 2, based at Weymouth College, are going to change this.

We are undertaking the task to refocus our ideas on volunteering whilst raising awareness for Weldmar Hospicecare.

You may question, “Why should we help Weldmar?” This charity, which is founded on benevolence, needs ‘in excess of £8 million per year’ to help patients, families and staff.

We discussed what volunteering means for us and why people volunteer. We discovered that most of us don’t actually volunteer as much as we would like, and that people may only volunteer to help themselves.

We want to change that perception - to explain to people that it is simple to volunteer.

But most importantly, the breath-taking effects that helping others has on families, charities and entire communities.

You can be a part of this. Anyone can be part of this. You can help spread our message by supporting us on the two walks we are doing next week.

On Monday 15th June we will be walking through Weymouth town centre, and on the Wednesday, we will be walking through Dorchester town centre.

Our efforts can be elevated by your support on these two days, and we will be incredibly grateful for any support we receive.

A simple way to help is to follow our Instagram account to watch our progress @ncsteam2.2019. Thank you.

By Billy Sullivan