Virgin Unite and Glee Star Cory Monteith Announce Search for 'Special Youth Ambassadors'

LONDON, May 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- We're Giving Six Lucky Winners the Chance to Join Cory for Lunch and Raise Awareness of Volunteering and Youth At-Risk

Virgin Unite, the non-profit foundation of the Virgin Group and Glee star Cory Monteith announce their search for six 'special youth ambassadors', who for three months will help promote the work of three youth charities who all support at-risk and homeless young people in the UK: Foyer Federation, The Albert Kennedy Trust and Depaul UK. The six ambassadors chosen will also get the opportunity to meet Cory Monteith and join him for lunch at The Roof Gardens' Babylon Restaurant in Kensington, London in June, 2011.

Virgin Unite ambassador Cory Monteith has supported the RE*Generation Movement in the US and Canada; a partnership with Virgin Unite and Virgin Mobile working with fantastic frontline organisations that support at-risk and homeless young people to build a brighter future.

Entrants will be asked to create a 250 word essay or a two minute video explaining why volunteering is important and how they could use their skills through social media and beyond to help raise awareness of the charities' work and the issues that at-risk and homeless young people face. The best contributions will be chosen by a panel of judges from Virgin Unite and the charities. Winning entrants will be contacted on 10th June, 2011. To apply go to http://www.virginunite.com/coryvolunteers. The promotion runs from 25h May to June 6, 2011.

"As a Virgin Unite ambassador, I'm excited to have the opportunity to come to the UK and encourage other young people to volunteer and get involved with their communities," said Cory Monteith, star of the hit TV show Glee. "I think it's important to give back, and empower others to help and I can't wait to meet the 'special youth ambassadors' who will be helping to raise awareness of the work that Foyer Federation, The Albert Kennedy Trust and Depaul UK are doing to support youth at-risk and homeless young people. I am expecting to see some great ways in which these challenging messages and stories of hope can reach a wide audience, helping to change people's perceptions of young people at risk."

Jean Oelwang, CEO, Virgin Unite, said, "Cory is a dedicated and passionate ambassador and we're extremely grateful that he is giving his time to help us raise awareness of the issues at-risk and homeless young people face here in the UK, as well as encourage volunteering amongst his thousands of fans."

Notes to Editors:

About Virgin Unite:

Virgin Unite is the non-profit foundation of the Virgin Group. We unite people to tackle tough social and environmental problems in an entrepreneurial way. Our aim is to help revolutionize the way businesses, government and the social sector work together - driving business as a force for better in the world. This is based on the belief that this is the only way we can tackle the scale and urgency of the challenges facing the world today. Virgin Unite's overheads are covered by Sir Richard Branson and the Virgin Group, meaning that 100% of additional donations received go direct to the frontline where they are needed most. For more information please visit www.virginunite.com. Follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/virginunite. Join the movement on Facebook www.facebook.com/pages/Virgin-Unite

About The Albert Kennedy Trust:

The mission of AKT is to ensure that all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people are able to live in accepting, supportive and caring homes, by providing a range of services to meet the individual needs of those who would otherwise be homeless or living in a hostile environment. They aim to do this by providing appropriate homes through supported lodgings, fostering and other specialist housing schemes, enabling young people to manage independent living successfully and improving attitudes within society towards lesbian, gay and bisexual young people. For more information please visit: http://www.akt.org.uk

About Depaul UK:

Depaul UK is the largest youth homelessness charity in the UK. It provides and supports 145,000 bed-nights a year to homeless, disadvantaged and vulnerable young people and has helped more than 50,000 people since it was founded in 1989. Depaul UK also works to prevent young people from becoming homeless by rebuilding family relationships and providing young people with opportunities to fulfil their potential through education, community-based volunteering, training and employment.

Please see http://www.depauluk.org for more information

About The Foyer Federation:

The Foyer Federation helps to transform the circumstances of young people who have faced barriers in their lives. We work with young people to create new approaches to developing the skills and resources they need to thrive. Their campaigns and initiatives are led through a network of 140 accredited learning and accommodation centres known as 'Foyers'. These Foyers provide up to 10,000 16-25 year olds per year with mutually agreed, tailored-made programmes which give young people access to housing, learning, personal development, training and employment opportunities in line with their needs and goals. For more information please visit: http://www.foyer.net

SOURCE Virgin Unite