SERC’s Students’ Union Raising the Bar in their Charity Work

The 2021/22 academic year was yet another great year for SERC’s SU and their incredible charity work.

Partnering with local foodbanks, the SU ran several appeals throughout the year, including one at Christmas and one at Easter. The kindness of staff and students throughout SERC helped to provide more than 70 Christmas hampers, which were welcomed by local foodbanks as they looked to ensure that help was provided for those in our communities in need over the festive season. The Easter appeal was also a great success with many Easter Eggs being donated.

Many across the world were left with heavy hearts as we watched the invasion of Ukraine unfold. Students from SERC rose to the call for support in aid of the humanitarian crisis. From collections over every campus, the college pulled together to fill the sports hall in Bangor with essential supplies that made their way directly to those who needed them. Not only that but through continued fundraising - including dessert boxes, a flash mob and singalong, donation buckets and our Just Giving page - the SU have raised a total of £1,778 for The Red Cross Ukraine Appeal.

In November, SERC Students’ Union in collaboration with the college’s Mind Yourself programme grew moustaches, walked, ran, and cycled to raise funds for Movember with the team’s efforts raising a total of £730.

As well as these initiatives, the SU helped with fundraisers across the college’s various campuses, including a ‘guess the sweets’ fundraiser for NEXUS in Newtownards, The Rainbow Project fundraiser in Bangor which included dressing up in rainbow clothes, a Christmas toy appeal in Newcastle, and the super competitive Super Mario Cart Tournament in Lisburn for Eimear’s Wish as well as a phenomenal Fun Day fundraiser in Newcastle which raised £500 for former student Michelle Madine, whose daughter Ellie was diagnosed with a brain tumour in August 2021.

Catherine Shipman, Student Engagement Manager at SERC said “Our incredible student leadership team at SERC SU have worked tirelessly throughout the year to support a range of charities. We had a number of different appeals this year, including local foodbank appeals, health charities and our response to the Ukraine Crisis.

“We were delighted to be able to support our communities through our ongoing charitable work and the generosity and kindness shown through the amount of food, supplies and monetary donations was outstanding. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks for ongoing support of the wider student body, college staff and the local community, who have made this possible.”

Catherine concluded “I am extremely proud of our Students Union at SERC, the hard work and dedication of our volunteers and staff is to be celebrated, and I look forward to their future achievements.”

Visit www.serc.ac.uk to unlock your future #BetterOffAtSERC.