In what was a huge night for the society, Trinity Vincent de Paul won Best Overall Society at the Central Societies Committee (CSC) Awards in March. Having also won Best Large Society, this year’s president Jack Natin has a perfect opportunity to leave his stamp on the society of the moment. Trinity VDP currently has 350 active members and is showing no sign of slowing down. This year the society has an executive committee of seven, including Natin and 85 activity leaders.
A fourth-year student of environmental science, Natin is as overwhelmingly nice as you would expect the leader of a charitable society to be. He tells me that he became involved with Trinity VDP in his first week of college, having been involved a little bit in VDP soup runs through his school. On freshers’ week, he decided to try to get involved in drama and stumbled across the VDP Panto. Having nearly missed his callback while running for the DART, Natin received a phone call from his friend who asked, “Why aren’t you here? They are calling out your name!”.
Following a successful audition, he was assigned to a children’s activity, which led to the quick discovery that he absolutely loved working with kids. VDP soon became Natin’s favourite hobby. He became very active and if he had a free period, would find out what activity was on. On his decision to rise up in the committee, Natin is very humble. “It just kind of happened,” he smiles. This was Natin’s second run for president and he praises last year’s president, Tom O’Malley.
Trinity VDP puts on over 40 activities, of which there is almost always something taking place. Natin stresses that they are happy for members to come along whenever they are free. Over 20 of the activities involve working with kids, covering five schools in the local area. An overwhelming 3000 volunteers signed up during Freshers Week 2017. In response to the incredible amount of interest, two additional schools have been included for day-time and after-school activities. School clubs include sports, music, art, drama and education.
The social justice element of Trinity VDP has three aims: educate ourselves, raise awareness and most importantly, push for change. They align with the three sections of the activity: research, events and projects. Natin explains that social justice is about finding long-term solutions to societal and equality issues. This year’s social justice activity will focus on the topical issue of direct provision.
It totally depends how much you want to be involved in Trinity VDP, and despite it being the “main thing” that has defined his college experience, Natin has kept up his other hobbies, including his involvement in rugby in Trinity. Although the bulk of VDP activities involve working with kids, the wide range of activities available to partake in means Natin believes that there is something for all students. The best thing about Trinity VDP is that it is “so chilled out”, and members can pop in and out of involvement as it suits them. Natin has walked the Camino de Santiago twice with Trinity VDP and enthuses about the incredible experience.
Fundraising events such as the Camino are just one of the many ways to get involved in Trinity VDP without committing a huge amount of your time. Following his experience with the kid’s club, Natin was encouraged to try other activities and was delighted to do so, thinking “That sounds class because I really enjoy this”. His personal highlight is the annual VDP Panto. Encouraging students to audition, Natin says that they should “not be scared at all”, that it is a hugely rewarding and fun production to be a part of.
