CHARITY ROUND UP

A massive ‘thank you’ from the Charity Committee

As the academic year drew to a close we were delighted to invite over 100 children and representatives from our Charity Partners to attend a party to celebrate our fund-raising achievements over the past year. Students from Year 10 organised fun and games for the children before each charity was presented with their fund-raising cheque.

This year Shrewsbury Riverside has raised a brilliant 2 million THB for our charities, through events such as our ‘Disco Dash’ Fun Run, Charity Week, non-uniform days, Christmas card sales, snack sales, sponsored events, staff raffles, cake sales and salary donations.

We have some amazing charity partners who work exceptionally hard to make a difference to children and families across South East Asia, who are suffering due to illness, poverty or neglect and we were honoured to present them with the following donations:

· Sister Louise  - 275,000 THB will be used to renovate their baby day care unit

· The Mercy Centre - 275,000 THB will be used to cover operating expenses for one of their preschools for disadvantaged children

· CCD - 275,000 THB will be used towards funding a vocational teacher at Rainbow House, one of their homes for severely disabled young people.

· The Hub -  275,000 THB  will be used to buy uniforms and educational equipment for homeless young people and provide baby supplies for young mothers

· A4D - 150,000 THB  will pay for medical supplies and treatment to save the lives of up to 10 children in South East Asia living with Type 1 diabetes.

· The Thai Muslim School - 150,000 THB will pay for improving the computer room and building a maths and science room for our nearest local school.

· Operation Smile/Kids Action For Kids - 75,000 THB will pay for 5 cleft lip operations

· Sulawesi Disaster Fund - 200,000 THB was donated in October towards helping with the aftermath of the Tsunami in Indonesia

· Thai SOS - 10,000 THB was used in September to purchase a refrigerator to enable Shrewsbury Riverside to donate quality food leftovers to poor and homeless families in the local community.

· Volunteering - 40,000 THB was used to paint the playground of The Thai Muslim School and assist towards volunteering projects with Habitat for Humanity

In addition to these amounts we also donated:

· Disaster Fund - 200,00 THB has been set aside to send if necessary as an immediate response to disaster in South East Asia

· Volunteering - 300,000 THB has been set aside to enable student volunteering projects next year, including projects with Habitat for Humanity, Operation Smile and A4D

In addition to all the fantastic fund-raising that has taken place this year, Shrewsbury Riverside students and staff have also made significant contributions to our charity partners through our food drive initiative for Thai SOS and our Christmas Wish List, donating food and gifts to our charity partners.

Volunteering has also been a significant and growing feature of staff and student involvement with our charity partners. We feel that this is mutely beneficial to both our students and to our charity partners as it teaches our students skills in leadership and exposes them to different experiences and environments.  We hope from this that our students will go on to become global citizens and continue to keep volunteering and supporting charity initiatives when they leave Shrewsbury, whilst in the short term, providing much needed support for our partners.

This year volunteering initiatives have included Year 12 and 13 students supporting an A4D Family Camp in Myanmar, Year 11 students assisting at the Rotary Club Kids Day Out at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, Year 10 and 11 students helping to build a home for an underpriviliged family with the charity Habitat for Humanity, our Year 9 and 10  students helping to paint a school palyground as part of a Habitat for Humanity Young Leader’s Build and staff, students and parents helping to re-paint the walls of the Thai Muslim School playground (which were last decorated by Shrewsbury  staff and students 11 years ago)

In addition to these one off projects, students from Shrewsbury also give up their time week in and week out to assist Sister Louise children with swimming and English lessons, Thai Muslim School students with their English and street children from The Hub drop in centre, learn English and have positive interactions in their lives.

We are overwhelmed by the support and generosity of our community and we are looking forward to more volunteering and new and exciting fund-raising initiatives next year.  “If the heart is right, all will be well”

Take care and happy holidays

From

The Charity Committee