St. Paul’s students have always been renowned for their generosity and selflessness. Last year alone their contribution to charity was staggering. It is clear that pupils in St. Paul’s have a well developed sense of empathy. They sympathise and engage with the plight of others and turn their thoughts and words into actions in an attempt to improve the lives of others.
On 11th February 2011 a fantastic £310 was raised for the Bliss charity, which provides support for mothers with premature babies. The following month a further £200 was raised through the auctioning of a pair of boxing gloves signed by Eamonn O’Kane, Paul McCloskey and Amir Khan.
On 9th March 2011 pupils from years 8,9 and 10 completed a morning fast for Trocaire. They managed to raise a staggering £1400 for Trocaire’s projects in the developing world. On 16th March year 11 and 12 students took part in a 5k fun run and raised over £800 which was divided among a number of local charities. On Friday 18th March volunteers from the school helped to raise £801 for Road of Hope through a bag pack in Tesco, Ballymoney.
On Saturday 23rd April 2011 a number of St. Paul’s students participated in a bag-pack in Asda, Coleraine which raised £1406 for the Road of Hope organisation.
On 24th May the annual sponsored walk in Portglenone forest for Action MS raised in excess of £3,000. The endeavour of the pupils once again proved that although we are a small school, as a community we are truly committed to helping others.
In September 2011 pupils in years 8-10 made an outstanding contribution to children’s cancer charities through their sponsored “Read-On” event. By using class time to read their favourite novels they managed to raise £2,500!
In December2011 students generously contributed to the annual St. Vincent De Paul hamper appeal. The six local conferences received two very full hampers each to help them with their Christmas appeal. The parishes of Dunloy, Swatragh, Rasharkin, Kilrea and Errigal all benefitted from the fund-raising. As Christmas approached, mindful of others less fortunate than themselves, pupils filled 140 shoeboxes full of Christmas gifts for children in Bosnia and Croatia. In addition they presented the Road of Hope charity with a cheque for £370. They also managed to raise £350 for families in Burma through the Gifts for Christmas appeal. Finally in December Year 10 students organised a variety of events to raise vital funds for Northern Irish Cancer Charities. They raised a total of £335 from their cake sale and “silly sock or tie day.”