This academic year, each year group took careful consideration with choosing their year group charities, through filling out the form to show initial interests and then deciding from the shortlist. Given we never announced the results of each year group charity in assembly, I thought it would be useful to write an article summarising each of the charities, their focus areas and work they do.
TW: mentions of rape and gender-based violence relating to the Year 11 charity, mentions of suicide relating to the Sixth Form charity.
Year 7: Macmillan Cancer Support
Right now, one in four people with cancer in the UK feel they “can’t afford life”. Macmillan seeks to solve this financial burden, offer emotional support through their support hotline and their online community, as well as providing information on different kinds of cancer and treatments. Their current work includes their Pay PIP Now petition, which comes as part of their campaign for the UK government to cut long waiting times for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) to twelve weeks, as they believe it’s deplorable that those suffering with cancer are having to week such long periods of time to receive the necessary financial support.
Year 8: Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK is the UK’s leading cancer charity and have dedicated themselves to saving people’s lives through their research. Theirs aims are to create a world where some types of cancer are effectively eliminated, many more are prevented from developing in the first place, cancer diagnoses are made earlier and the quality of treatment is improved so it’s less impactful on people’s lives. They fund scientists and doctors to help beat the disease and inform the public about their latest research, symptoms, and treatment options.
Year 9: Muslim Global Relief – supporting Pakistan
Muslim Global Relief has been “Bringing Hope to Life” for over twenty years, alleviating world poverty hunger and providing humanitarian relief in over forty countries. They were awarded as the UK’s best Muslim charity in 2018 and are recognised for their outstanding work in remote African, Asian, and Middle Eastern villages. Their work involves kickstarting development in remote villages around the world, empowering rural communities through providing necessities like water, sanitation, education, improved livelihood, and socio-economic developments, thus raising communities out of poverty.
Year 10: Water Aid
Clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene are basic human rights, which everybody is entitled to. However, this is not the current reality, and WaterAid looks to solve this. The international NGO (non-governmental organisation) was established in 1981 in response to the UN International Drinking Water Decade, and it focusses on water, sanitation, and hygiene. Since their founding, across 28 countries, they’ve reached 28.5 million with clean water, 29 million with decent toilets, and 27.8 million with good hygiene. These basic human rights allow entire communities to break free from poverty and change their lives for good. Another key part of their work is persuading governments to change laws, linking policy makers with people on the ground and rally support from people globally.
Year 11: End Violence Against Women
End Violence Against Women is a UK based “coalition of individuals and organisations which campaigns to end all forms of violence against women” and has been a registered charity since 2015. They are activists, survivors, researchers, frontline support services and NGOs, and they take an intersectional feminist, anti-racist approach to ending violence. Some of their most notable campaigns include for the FA and the Premier League to confront their culture of gender-based violence, ending online abuse, rape justice, #METOO at school, and ending racism within violence against women and girls.
Sixth Form: Papyrus
Papyrus is a national charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide and the promotion of positive mental health and emotional wellbeing amongst young people. The charity was founded in the late 1990s by a group of bereaved parents, each having lost a child to suicide, who shared a group of core beliefs that suicide is preventable and that they had a unique, valuable contribution to the wider discourse around it. They aim to shatter the stigma around suicide and equip young people and their communities with the skills to recognise and respond to emotional distress. They also have a helpline, HOPELINE. This is a free and confidential text, call and email service available 9am to midnight 365 days a year (and 366 on leap years), and is staffed by trained suicide prevention advisers.
If you would like to organise any kind of fundraising event for your year group charity, feel free to get in contact with your year group charity rep, me (c.hobbs1@wim.gdst.net) or your Head of Year.
