Just before the new year begins, we want to take a moment to thank everyone that made last year such an enormous success both for us as a society, and for fundraising at Kent.
The Kent Union fundraising total for 2018/19 was an astonishing £238,732.80!
This is the most raised in the university's history and is down to the hard work and dedication of so many fundraisers at Kent, including our wonderful committee and members.
Some of the most notable fundraisers of the year included the Movember campaign, the ‘Kent Against FGM’ ball and our RaG challenges.
Movember, as always, took the month by storm. The aim of Movember is to raise awareness of men's health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men's suicide. We had pub quizzes, karaoke nights, dodgeball and a hot wings challenge at Woody’s. UKC Tennis held a 12 hour tennis rally, while Men's Lacrosse did a 24 hour passing session and a mixed Lacrosse charity game with Kent RaG. With so many societies taking part, we managed to raise an amazing £15,203! A huge shout out also has to go to the highest fundraisers: Harry Copping, who raised over £1,100, and on the society leader board, Men’s Rugby, raising over £3700, with Men’s Lacrosse following closely behind with over £3400 raised. Everyone who took part, whether as an individual or a society, contributed to this amazing feat and we couldn’t be more proud.
The first ever ‘Kent Against FGM’ ball was also held this year. This energising show of solidarity brought together 23 political, campaigning and faith societies to raise awareness about the horrific practice of Female Genital Mutilation and money for Tostan. The event was an enormous success, raising almost £5000 in total! Sponsored by Students for Liberty, Palamon Court and Canterbury University Freemasons Lodge, this was an event that everyone was keen to be a part of and everyone who contributed and took part did an incredible job.
Here at Kent RaG, our challenges program also broke records. This year for our legendary Kilimanjaro trek alone we raised £102,147 for Meningitis Research Foundation, the highest total we’ve ever raised for a single charity in one year. They’ve just left for their trip to climb the famous mountain, and we’re looking forward to congratulating them all when they return.
This year’s challenge participants really outdid themselves, undertaking countless bucket collections, putting on bake sales, selling their art, completing 24 hour cycles and lacrosse passes and generally being fantastic representatives of both Kent RaG and the charities we partner with.
While we recognise these massive achievements, we also want to thank everyone that put on smaller events throughout the year or fundraised in their own way, for the difference that they made. Men’s Rugby organised a charity game for Mind, the Uni boob team did glitter stands in Venue, British Sign Language held a Super Smash Bro’s Ultimate Tournament, Kent Dance held their annual Show Fundraiser, and this is just to name a few.
We’re so grateful to everyone that fundraised, donated or just raised awareness for a charitable cause at the University of Kent this year, and we’re looking forward to doing it all again in just a couple of weeks!
