This year SPS will be donating £1 to charity for every student who completes the National Student Survey (NSS) or Undergraduate Survey (UGS).
We will be offering students the chance to nominate one of five charities – Student Minds, Catching Lives, Canterbury Food Bank as well as two charities related to the Australian Bushfires – one for the New South Wales Firefighters and one for wildlife.
Nominating your charity is easy – once you’ve completed the survey you’re eligible for, email your proof of completion to spsmarketing@kent.ac.uk along with the name of the charity you want your donation to go to.
To help you make up your mind, here is a bit more information about each of the charities:
1. Student minds
This charity is the UK’s student mental health charity, who aim to transform the state of mental health so that all students in higher education can thrive. They empower students and members of the university community to develop the knowledge, confidence and skills to look after their own mental health, support others and create change by training students and staff to deliver student-led peer support interventions and sharing best practice. Find out more about their fantastic work.
2. Catching lives
Catching Lives is an independent charity aimed at supporting the rough sleepers, homeless and vulnerably housed in Canterbury and East Kent. Their vision is of a society where all are included and all, no matter how disadvantaged, can make a contribution. Catching Lives works towards ending the harm caused to individuals, families and the community, by homelessness, rough sleeping and insecure housing by offering immediate respite at the Canterbury Open Centre. They also work with their clients to help them tackle any issues that they may have, get access to suitable accommodation and find the motivation to take steps towards personal recovery and independent living.
3. Canterbury Food Bank
The Canterbury Food bank is a community project and registered charity providing emergency three-day food parcels to individuals and families in short term financial crisis across Canterbury, Whitstable, Herne Bay and surrounding villages. In the last year they:
- Distributed 31,257 meals
- Fed 2,160 adults and 1,260 children;
- Gave parents 468 holiday parcels
- Worked unpaid for 16,557 hours
4. New South Wales Rural Fire Service
The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) is the world’s largest volunteer fire service, with their members providing fire and emergency services to approximately 95 percent of New South Wales. They have been a huge part of the effort to tackle the recent bush fires in Australia. Donations made to the NSW Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) directly benefit volunteer firefighters.
5. WIRES (NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service Inc.)
WIRES mission is to actively rehabilitate and preserve Australian wildlife and inspire others to do the same. Following the recent catastrophic bushfires, which have seen hundreds of fires burn over 4.9 million hectares of land in New South Wales alone, food shortages for animals have increased and lack of suitable habitat will be a significant long-term challenge for surviving wildlife. It is impossible to know how many animals have perished and it will be many months before the impact on wild populations can be better understood but ecologists at Sydney University have estimated over 800 million animals have been affected in NSW and over 1 billion animals in Australia since September 2019. Donating to WIRES will help rescue sick, injured and orphaned wildlife.