St Mary’s students read up on charity fundraising

ST Mary’s High School has 3,100 reasons to celebrate reading, after pupils read their way through hundreds of books to raise a fantastic £3,100 to support a local children’s cancer charity.

In January the school took part in the Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children’s (NICFC) sponsored ReadOn initiative, which challenges students to read as many books as possible in a week, to help local children living with cancer.

One vital service this money will support is the Family Programme which provides families nursing a child with cancer with a Support Worker for a few hours each week. The NICFC currently employs four Family Support Workers who are trained to help parents and children both at home and in hospital, by providing them with someone to talk to, help with household tasks and by engaging children in constructive play.

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Mrs Christine McCann, English Teacher and ReadOn Coordinator at St Mary’s High School was amazed by the student’s enthusiasm to read as much as they could to support the charity.

She said: “Participation in ReadOn is a great way to promote literacy whilst encouraging students to empathise with children less fortunate than themselves. By making this a fundraising event, it gives them an added sense of purpose.”

Ruth Hobson, Schools and Youth Fundraiser for the NICFC added: “It is almost unbearable to try and imagine what it would be like to be told that your child has cancer, yet every week in Northern Ireland another three families are told this devastating news.

“It is thanks to the generosity and support of schools like St Mary’s High School that the Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children is able to meet the needs of hundreds of families coming to terms with a childhood cancer diagnosis. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the students, school staff and local community for doing something amazing for local families affected by cancer.”

For more information about the Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children please contact us on 9080 5599 or visit www.nicfc.com. You can also find them on Facebook.