Charity
‘Learning from Each Other’ – since 1994
The place of charity in a society where we aim to look after each other through paying our axes will always be contentious. However, it is impossible to ignore a good and urgent cause, and Shimna students have supported many both with fundraising and with activism.
A further issue in an integrated school is that many charities have grown up with majority support within one community. Our fundraising campaigns have always ensured that we support charities with roots throughout our community as well as international fundraisers. For example, our early Christmas appeals were always for Trócaire and Christian Aid, or Vincent de Paul and Bryson.
A regular commitment has been to a very significant local charity, Daisy Lodge, the centre of the Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children, and for many years, generations of Shimna students have raised funds. Students have also volunteered at Daisy Lodge and benefited from placements to gain experience for a career in caring or medicine.
Many Shimna families over the years have also had reason to be very grateful for the services Daisy Lodge provides to children with cancer and to their family. As an extra Shimna donation, OldScholar Aisling became the fundraising officer for Daisy Lodge!
One of the main NICFC fundraising vehicle, ReadOn, has fitted very well with Shimna’s commitment to encouraging reading, and the English department combined Reading Week with NICFC’s ReadOn every Autumn.
Sometimes an opportunity to support just ran past, such as Rory’s Miles to Mayo, an extra opportunity to support NICFC. Shimna was out in force to wave him through.
Other regular opportunities have been Red Nose day and Children in Need, which had the added advantage of a bit of ridiculous fun.
Business Studies classes in need of an entrepreneurial project chose to raise funds for a different charity each year, for example Tiny Life, McMillan Cancer Fund etc.
Sometimes the impulse to support the charity came through as a response to a need within the school community. This happened when the O’Rourke family had reason to suggest supporting the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
The science department had always supported Jeans for Genes Day, but when we lost Kady Carolan to her diabetes, the focus became fundraising for Diabetes UK NI.
A number of Shimna families had reason to appreciate the support of the Southern Area Hospice, and our support followed.
Sometimes a returning OldScholar brought us a fundraising challenge. While studying at Sheffield University, Patrick became involved with Watermade. Watermade was a social enterprise supporting a women’s collective in Uganda with the technology and marketing which allowed them to make the most of their creative talents. Patrick launched the partnership with Shimna at an assembly and formed an ongoing link with our Business Studies department. The jewellery and crafts created by the collective became and annual feature of the Christmas Fair organised by our Prince’s Trust group.
Shimna Stars Special Olympics Club was a partner with Shimna in so many ways. We hosted the club in our sports hall, and members then raised funds for a defibrillator to be housed there. Our students also benefited both from basketball opportunities and opportunities to support Shimna Stars Athletes.
Another very special local charity is Newcastle Community Cinema. Before NCC acquired their very own premises, Shimna frequently hosted activities in connection with film screenings for children, for example the Yellow Brick Road which led from Shimna to the Annesley Hall.
For adults, Breakfast Club in the home economics department with bacon sandwiches and the film. We did a bit of fundraising for NCC in order to help towards the permanent home.
As austerity kicked in, our local foodbank, The Pantry, needed more practical support with direct donations of food. In making the collections, we were always fully aware that Shimna families were also beneficiaries of the Food Bank, and couldn’t always afford to donate.
And then there were some mad challenges for good causes, like the Ice Bucket Challenge, a chance to get revenge on your colleagues, raising money for the Motor Neurone Disease Challenge.
Another local charity, the TENS Foundation had a pop-up charity shop in Newcastle, and OldScholar and former staff member John, and his dad, staged a sleep out in a coffin to raise funds for the charities work in the Philippines.
Newcomers to our community are another group who needed immediate, practical help, and our Amnesty students rallied round collecting food, toiletries, warm clothes, phones and sim cards etc.
Another significant local charity is the Air Ambulance, an increasingly important element in our healthcare and emergency rescue system in Northern Ireland. The best thing about fundraising, apart from supporting the service, is that we got to host a visit from the helicopter when they came to collect the cheque.
A further issue in an integrated school is that many charities have grown up with majority support within one community. Our fundraising campaigns have always ensured that we support charities with roots throughout our community as well as international fundraisers. For example, our early Christmas appeals were always for Trócaire and Christian Aid, or Vincent de Paul and Bryson House.
Our Habitat for Humanity commitment united fundraising with activism, with the whole school contributing to fundraising for the building materials our students would use when they travelled to Ethiopia, India and Romania to build homes alongside the local community.
A bit of helping ourselves was required when our Duke of Edinburgh’s Award group’s equipment needed to be replaced and upgraded.
Closer to home, at Shimna everyone is very aware that without the support of the Integrated Education Fund in offering to guarantee the bank loan with which we built our school, Shimna simply wouldn’t have existed. The IEF also helped us find funding for the classrooms on the maths/history/politics corridor, and directly funded the lovely room downstairs in the Forbes building. That’s as well as constant support through Carson bursaries and support for our primary languages outreach. Every year, during Integrated Education Week, the IEF asks all integrated schools to hold an Odd Socks fundraiser, and Shimna never failed.
Our Prince’s Trust group and their Christmas Fair was a fundraising landmark every year. Key contributors were the students studying Public Services. A key element in their contribution was the visit to Santa!
