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

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

For further information please contact: Jodie Dalmeda, Virgin Unite, Email: jodie.dalmeda@virginunite.co.uk, Tel: +44(0)203-126-3967; Ellie Springett, Virgin Unite, Email: ellie.springett@virginunite.co.uk, Tel: +44(0)203-126-3977

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