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Festive Funding Boost for North West Charities

13 December 2013

University of Ulster Business student, Emma Laverty, pictured with lecturer Gráinne Tuohy and Noel McMonagle, Foyle Hospice.


A group of enterprising business students from the University of Ulster’s Magee campus have raised over £9,000 for north west charities.

The first year students took up the challenge as part of their induction module at the Ulster Business School in partnership with the university’s Science Shop initiative.

After embarking upon a range of activities including face painting, street collections, raffles and bag packing as well as hosting a sell-out fashion show at the City Hotel, the students raised a total of £9,300.

The funds were presented to three local charities including the Foyle Hospice, Action Cancer and Foyle Down’s Syndrome Trust at a special ceremony hosted at Magee this week.

Congratulating the students, Gráinne Tuohy, from the Ulster Business School at Magee, said: “These first year business students have done themselves and the University of Ulster proud in raising this huge amount of money for local charities.

“When my colleague Brian O’Donnell and I, first set them the challenge twelve weeks ago, it was a daunting task that needed to be carried out in a short time frame but the students have really risen to the challenge and they have surpassed all of our expectations.

“This has been the culmination of a lot of hard work, enthusiasm and dedication and we in the Ulster Business School have been impressed by the way our students have engaged with these charities and with the local community in their fundraising efforts.”

Community Engagement Manager, Claire Mulrone, added: “The students deserve a big ‘thank you’ for what they have achieved. All three of the charities; Foyle Hospice, Action Cancer and Foyle Down Syndrome Trust, are Science Shop community partners and they are all very grateful for the time, commitment and enthusiasm that the students have shown throughout this project.”

First year Advertising and Human Resource Management student, Beth Ellis, was one of the team who hosted a successful fashion show in the city in a bid to raise funds.

Beth said:

“This was an amazing opportunity to put our business skills to the test while at the same time raising money for very deserving charities in our local community.

“We are a very competitive team and really enjoyed the challenge that we were given by our lecturers in the Ulster Business School at Magee.

“Organising the fashion show was a huge project to embark upon in the short timeframe that we were given, but we rose to the challenge and really enjoyed the experience.

“It was also a great boost to our confidence to have pulled off such a successful event and to have helped raise much-needed funds. This has been a great experience for all of the team.”