Eighty-five CRC students on the National Citizen Service programme – designed to give teenagers more independence, skills and social awareness– raised £1,455 for seven charities and helped another 10 by working with them.
Their summer charity work included making 2,000 origami butterflies to help Cambridge charity Born to be Beautiful make a world record attempt, sleeping rough for homeless charities Emmaus and Wintercomfort, and painting themselves blue to raise money and awareness for Blue Smile, which helps children with mental health difficulties.
They also raised money for East Anglian Children’s Hospices by dressing up and collecting cash, donated £150 to You Can Bike2 by cycling a massive 351 miles in five hours, and £180 to Guide Dogs for the Blind – taking to the streets of Cambridge with blindfolds to highlight the difficulties of life without sight.
The students on the three-week NCS course also worked with Cambridge Re-use, Blue Cross, the British Heart Foundation, Rabbit Residence Rescue, Scope and five other charities – giving the organisations a helping hand and increasing their own understanding of social issues.
Phill Couzins, a lecturer at CRC and an organiser for NCS programmes, said the students had put in a huge effort to help charitable causes.
“They all gave up part of their summer to knuckle down and help a large number of charities, raising money through some fantastic ideas and boosting awareness – particularly important for some of our smaller, local charities,” he said.
“The CRC students were by far the majority of young people on the NCS programme and it was great to see their energy and enthusiasm put to such good use in helping others less fortunate than themselves.”
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For more information, please contact Lynn O’Shea, Cambridge Regional College Press Officer, on 01223 418773 or email loshea@camre.ac.uk