The I Can & I Am Bus
In January 2020, Howdens gave our charity a converted double decker bus. which has enabled us to hugely step up our involvement with young people. The I Can & I Am team visit schools around the South West on the bus working with pupils and staff to improve self-esteem and inflate balloons of self-belief. Presentations from James Shone are combined with pizza making and wellbeing workshops on the bus. Our messages are rooted in simplicity. Everyone has a balloon of self-belief inside them. When it’s full, life tends to be good, we bounce back from setbacks, and we feel like we have purpose. When it’s deflated, however, life becomes a struggle, things we may have once found easy become difficult, and it becomes hard to find hope.
Our mission at I Can & I Am is to enable those we work with to recognise their own balloon, and give them the tools to keep it inflated. The strength of this message is that it’s simple.
What happens on the bus?
The bus will visit schools, charities, universities or businesses for one or more days and run sessions lasting one hour at a time for a maximum of 15 individuals. 4 sessions can be run in one day. The bus has a fully fitted kitchen downstairs and casual seating upstairs. This enables a combination of hands on baking followed by small group workshops. The baking sessions involve making bread or pizza – activities that stimulate a sense of togetherness and creativity. Small group workshops are run by our facilitators on the top deck of the bus. Above all, everything is underpinned by fun, positivity, empathy and passion for what we do. We are experienced and empathetic professionals who understand young people and how life can sometimes be difficult. Therefore, the emphasis is always on finding ways to move forward positively.
The Stats
- First bus outing May 2021
- Over 3,300 people have now attended workshops on the bus, the majority aged between 10 and 15
- The average ‘Tripadvisor’ score from young people on the bus has been 4.7 out of 5.
- 60% cited either ‘talking’ or ‘learning’ as the most useful thing about their visit to the bus (more useful than making pizza!)
- 74% of visitors said they had higher self-belief when they le] the bus than when they arrived