VSU began in Sevenoaks Schools in 1964, providing support young people, who wished to volunteer in the community. This developed into providing support with a number of other West Kent private schools. The charity established offices I Tonbridge, Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells, where young people could meet and plan there community work and gradually established new partnerships with state schools in the region.

For the next forty years the charity continued to grow and extend its remit to Dartford and Gravesham, followed later with an office in Maidstone. The success of VSU’s young people in delivering children’s clubs, environmental projects and campaign programmes lead to contracts with local and national government offices, trusts and foundations and private sector companies. These include The Rank Foundation, Fidelity UK, Lloyds PLC, Children in Need, The Paul Hamlyn Foundation band the Guy Hands Trust.

In 1999 VSU secured the coveted Millennium Volunteer Contract for West Kent with targets of eight hundred young volunteers per annum, many of whom achieved the premier two hundred hours accreditation. Later, in 2003, VSU also took responsibility for the East Kent and Medway Towns Millennium Volunteer Contract (formerly held by KCC) and from that year onwards, VSU worked with an average of 2500 young people, each year, in over forty five children’s clubs, projects for the elderly, the disabled and supporting the growing cultural diversity of Kent and Medway. The Youth Action groups have also developed projects over the years that have addressed Fair trade, Amnesty International, animal rights, green issues and many other social causes.

VSU has always enjoyed the support of county, unitary, district and borough councils in Kent and Medway and has established successful partnerships with social services, Connexions Kent and Medway, KCC Youth and Kent Youth, The Parents Consortium and Barnados, we also work closely with the many adult volunteer services across the county and support small and large community charities.

At the beginning of 2009 VSU merged with Voluntary Action West Kent to form Voluntary Action Within Kent.

From its beginnings in 1964, with Sevenoaks School, VSU now recruits young volunteers from more that 80% of the secondary schools in Kent and Medway and has formal service legal agreements with over twenty private and state schools.