Thirty-one Sport and Uniformed Services students, all studying for a Higher Sports Leaders Award, pounded away through the night to complete the huge challenge, raising more than £3,500 - helped by support from local businesses, including staff at Napp.
The money will go towards buying much-needed equipment for schools and orphanages in Marrakesh, where the students will travel later this year to carry out voluntary work with the children – the sixth time the college has made the annual mercy trip.
They will be working in an orphanage, a baby centre and a school for disabled children doing the eight-day visit in May, taking essentials including batteries for hearing aids as well as sports equipment, face paint, pens and paper.
Over the past six years, students have raised a massive £20,000 for street children in Morocco, making a real difference to their lives – and helping one orphanage grow from a small centre for just nine children to 90 today.
Rob Metcalfe, Head of Sport Studies at CRC, who organises the yearly visits, said the fundraising efforts were vital for the charities in Morocco.
“The students always work incredibly hard to raise as much money as they can to help the orphans, who have absolutely nothing,” he said.
“Our volunteering trips have a big impact on both students and staff – it can be overwhelming to see how little the children have when we have so much.
“The students gain so much from the experience - working with the street children can make them reassess their own lives and appreciate the importance of volunteering.
“This year we have students coming for a second and third time to see how the children they have worked with are progressing. It’s fantastic to know that through our fundraising we have helped support an orphanage that can now house 90 kids where it used to house just nine.”
MEDIA ENQUIRIES
For more information, please contact Lynn O’Shea, Cambridge Regional College Press Officer, on 01223 418773 or email loshea@camre.ac.uk