Learners give back to ex-military personnel

Learners and staff from Coleg y Cymoedd have organised a number of fundraising events to raise a considerable contribution for a charity helping ex-service personnel.

Nineteen learners on a Level 2 IT System Support course at the Ystrad Mynach campus organised fundraising events and activities to collect donations for Soldiers Off The Street.

The group managed to fundraise £323.43 to go directly to the charity through a number of efforts including a raffle, a food stall, asking the Principal to collect donations at meetings and encouraging their tutor to grow his hair and beard for months, to then be shaved to raise money.

All of the members of the class got involved in different roles including advertising, research and managing the event rotas. The activities also count towards their Welsh Baccalaureate qualification as they are focussed on Community Participation and Enterprise.

The group of fundraisers were presented with a giant cheque for the money raised, and congratulated by both the college Principal Judith Evans and Chris Robinson, a representative from Soldiers off The Street.

25 year old Geraint Cox from Bargoed said “I really enjoyed being a part of the fundraising events and am very proud of how well it has gone. We chose Soldiers Off The Street as we wanted to collect for a small charity and some of us have family in the military. After a bit of research into relevant charities, we chose this Welsh charity based in Rhyl”.

17 year old Matthew Hewer, also from Bargoed, added: “I think that the fundraising has been beneficial with my confidence, and I feel very involved within all of the events.”

IT Tutor Ayub Shan said: “We are very proud of the learners for participating enthusiastically and raising money and awareness for the important cause. I am personally and deeply moved, by the contributions made, by both learners and staff.”

Chris Robinson a representative from Soldiers Off The Street said: “We at soldiers off the street are honoured to have been chosen as the charity by these students here at Coleg y Cymoedd and would like to thank all of you for your hard work that you put into the fundraising events and would also like to thank you for those who cannot thank you themselves, that is the ex-military personnel that we help.”

Find out more about Soldiers Off the Street, whose motto is ‘The only time you should ever look down on someone is when you are helping them up’ here: http://www.soldiersoffthestreet.org/

Share!