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15 May 2023
St Catherine’s Hospice is a Crawley based charity which aims to help everyone face death informed, supported and pain free. They provide expert hospice care for over 2,000 people in West Sussex and East Surrey.
To deliver this vital work costs approximately £10 million a year, 30% of which is provided by the NHS and the rest via fundraising initiatives within the community.
St Catherine’s Hospice recognise the value of collaborating with schools and colleges with dedicated fundraising projects including their Youth Enterprise Project. Students taking part are given a team mentor from NatWest bank who helps them turn an initial investment of £50 into as much fundraised money as possible.
This year eight teams from local schools took part in the project including two teams from Burgess Hill Girls.
The Year 7 team, Aurelia, Charley Rae, Genie, Rosie, Sanaya and Freya, decided to create both fundraising events and products for their target market of prep school pupils at Burgess Hill Girls. The products were pom-pom key rings and badges, and the fundraising events were a Colour Run, World Book Day and finally a Wear Orange Day.
The Year 12 team, Aggie, Anna, Ariel and Tilly, organised events including a Guess the Number competition, doughnut sales and a Big Spring Wardrobe Clear Out online sale, with students and staff donating clothes to be sold to raise funds.
The two teams raised over £4,000 in a ten-week challenge to turn £50 seed money into £1,500. They were also crowned joint winners of the category for best presentation. In total all eight schools raised a record breaking £22,637.52.
Dionne Flatman, Head of Economics, Politics and Business at Burgess Hill Girls, is exceptionally proud of both teams:
“Most impressive for me was the energy and determination of both teams, creating multiple innovative products and events to beat their fundraising targets. They have all learnt vital new business and organisational skills which will serve them well in the future.”
