50 charities and organisations

Student visit to Age Concern drop-in centre in Canterbury

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the University supported 50 charities and community organisations in order to deepen its community engagement, both locally and globally, through fundraising and volunteering activities.

Throughout the year, the University and student interns ran many successful projects, including:

• Christmas shoe box appeal, with 40 shoe boxes being donated by the Canterbury campus and Medway volunteers checking over 2,000 boxes before they were sent to Serbia, Romania and Hungry.
• Pamper day at the Medway campus for 18 local charities and their volunteers, thanking them for their contribution to the local community.
• Food bank collections, with over 400 items being collected and donated to the Canterbury food bank.
• Beach clean and litter picks in the local community.
• Big challenge events through RaG which raised over £76,000 for five main charities; Meningitis Research Foundation, Breast Cancer Now, East African Playgrounds, Dementia UK, Actions Against Hunger, The Little Things.
• Dementia Friends training delivered to over 42 students across both Canterbury and Medway campuses.

Student volunteers were also recognised and celebrated in the local media for their gardening work at a Canterbury homelessness charity.