Syrian Student Raises Funds for Earthquake Victims

Following the huge earthquake in February which devastated parts of Turkey and Syria, one of Malton School’s Sixth Form students, decided to organise a fundraising event to support the aid effort.  Shahd, who was born in Syria but has lived in Ryedale since she was a young child, still has family members living in Syria.

Moved by the plight of those caught up by the initial earthquake as well as the after-tremors in the following weeks, Shahd set to work organising a bake-sale.  With the support of fellow students, she pulled together a team of bakers, created posters, and promoted the bake sale amongst the school community.  She also carefully researched an organisation to donate the funds to. Shahd’s chosen beneficiary was Molham Team, a now international organization which was originally founded by a group of Syrian university students in 2012 with the aim of supporting Syrian refugees.  Its remit has expanded in the years since then and now includes charitable and humanitarian work not only in Syria but neighbouring countries too.  The original group of volunteers has grown to over 300 and they have offices in Germany, Sweden and Canada.  Their work is currently focused on the relief effort to victims of the earthquake.

The bake sale itself took place over the breaktime / lunchtime period in school and with a fantastic selection of cakes for sale, the stall was very quickly cleared of its tempting array; and for those who didn’t fancy cake or weren’t quick enough off the mark to purchase, Shahd and her team also toured classrooms with collecting buckets to raise funds. To date they have raised over £450.

Speaking after the event Shahd said, “I can’t believe how much money we have raised.  I had hoped we might be able to raise £150, but £450 is an amazing result.  I really want to thank everyone at school who helped in whatever way possible to raise this money.  It really will make a difference because the impacts of the earthquake will be felt by the people of Syria and Turkey for years to come, especially by children and young people”.