At the beginning of March, the school began to think about our Lenten fundraising; with the horrendous situation in the Ukraine dominating world news, we all agreed this is where we should focus our effort.
Each year group have held their own initiative fundraising initiative to maximise funds raised.
| Year Group | Activity | Amount Raised so far… |
| Year R Imps | Painted sunflowers and sold to the school community | £170 |
| Year 1 Pixies | Made Sunflower Candle Holders Independent Child initiative | £95 £2.10 |
| Year 2 Elves | Held a cake sale after school | £107.93 |
| Year 3 Hobbits | Competition time with guess the name of the bear, sweets in the bowl etc. | £84.50 |
| Year 4 Dragons | Sponsored Assault course | Taking place tomorrow but already almost £700 handed in |
| Year 5 Griffins | Sponsored Circuits Independent Child initiative | £749.50 £13 |
| Year 6 Unicorns | Sponsored 10,000 step walk | £1514.50 |
| Whole School | Film Event & Lenten Breakfast | £375£38.47 |
| Other Local Community | St Mary’s Church of England Café, Dover | £150 |
| GRAND TOTAL | Although money still coming in | £4000.10 |
Throughout March, Kent schools have been donating to Kent Help for Ukraine Hub with donations of various types of aid (clothing, medicine, nappies etc.). Stella Maris have had a terrific response from those in the community wishing to help in whatever way they can. We became members of their volunteer community and quickly understood the huge efforts going on at this local site to try and send aid directly to Ukraine.
Today, representatives from each year group came up with a group of staff to the Kent hub to handover our fundraising. Peter Ireland (who has been our main contact from Bigjig Toys Folkestone) spent time showing the children what happens at the hub and got them involved with unloading our donation and then loading directly on to the next Ukrainian lorry – hopefully heading off in the next day or so. I believe this is HGV 10!
A huge effort has been made by so many Kent Schools including KCSP schools. We are privileged to hear about these as we have supported the administration process with booking in these drop offs to the donation hub. We wanted to share our particular story with you as we are so proud of the vast amount of money raised from our community. Peter Ireland has confirmed the amount the Stella Maris community have raised will fund a HGV directly into Ukraine covering all associated costs and potentially more aid purchased too! We are very proud.
