Charities, 2019-20

We enjoyed supporting a number of different charities over the 2019-20 academic year.
Tiggywinkles
At our first meeting this term, the Charity Committee worked with the Eco-Charity Committee who were presented with three local charities that we discussed and voted on. We were really torn because all three were important to us. In the end we voted on Tiggywinkles because of our interest in animals. Tiggywinkles, The Wildlife Hospital Trust, is a specialist hospital located in Haddenham dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating all species of British wildlife. Since opening their doors in 1978 over 300,000 patients have received treatment at Tiggywinkles. On some of their busiest days they can cater to over 1,600 patients! All British wild animal casualties brought to the hospital are treated completely free of charge and are released through a controlled programme, back to the wild, when they are fully fit. We decided to move the always very popular cake sale outside to the playground where it was held under a gazebo. It certainly felt more festive and many more cakes were
sold throughout the week. There was also a chance to play uni-hockey or dodge ball in the tournaments on Monday and Thursday in the gym. These were expertly run by Felix and Boaz. The highlight of the week was the Film Fest, a screening of ‘Pandas’, a short film about introducing pandas born in captivity to Chinese wilderness. Copious amounts of popcorn was sold and served in pupils’ reusable containers brought from home, a joint Eco-Charity initiative.
Christmas Shoebox Appeal
This year, we ran our first Christmas shoebox appeal to encourage boys to take time out to reflect on those in less fortunate or challenging circumstances. New College families were given a choice of charities; the international Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child or the local Oxford Project Shoebox for women living in refuges. We received a very generous response from the New College School community. We donated twenty eight boxes for children and a further sixteen to the local Shoebox Oxford for women living in refuges.
Crisis Skylight
Charity Committee teamed up with School Council this term to select Hilary term’s charity and to run fundraising activities together. Boys were presented with two charities to select from, one of which was a popular regional children’s charity. However, boys felt the issue of homelessness in our city is a more pressing issue so chose to support our local Crisis branch, Crisis Skylight, located in the Old Fire Station on George Street.
Crisis Skylight provides education, training and practical support to people who have been recently made homeless. The boys were especially encouraged to hear that the focus is on finding permanent housing and new employment opportunities and that many families with children also benefit from the services offered. The charity’s fundraiser, Chloe,visited the boys and gave a heartfelt presentation on Crisis and shared her personal experience as a young person having to live with her mother in temporary accommodation.
Boys enthusiastically raised £611 for the charity with cake sales, dodgeball matches and another film with popcorn (Imax: Hubble). This term’s highlight was Ben’s rubber chicken toss which drew in large crowds. The boys were clearly very moved by Crisis, so much so that Finley went on to continue fundraising and raised a further £1830 with an ongoing 250km run with his dog Nanuk! Well done, Finley!