Edinburgh College students raise money for local children’s charity

A group of Edinburgh College students have teamed up with Edinburgh Harley Davidson to raise £1319.57 for local children’s charity The Yard.

Two teams of 21 students from the college’s Preparation for Employment course – which equips students with skills to enable a smooth transition from school or college into work – organised a series of events to raise money for The Yard local adventure playground which provides a safe space to play for children and young people with disabilities in Edinburgh.

The students enlisted the help of Edinburgh Harley Davidson to offer people a chance to have their picture taken (and update their Facebook profile picture) on a yellow Harley Davidson V-Rod in return for a small donation.

Other fundraising activities included a sponsored walk, sponsored leg-wax, selling hand-made Christmas gift tags, lemon-drop challenge, joker-verses-your-pound game, wheel of fortune game and a raffle.

The fundraising events were held across two of the college’s four campuses and involved students researching, planning and facilitating fundraising activities as part of their course and to learn about enterprise.

Edinburgh College lecturer Alan Laing said: “I can’t praise the students enough for their achievements and the fantastic amount of money they have raised for The Yard. Organising the events gave them a great opportunity to learn skills which will serve them well in the workplace whilst also raising money for a great cause.

“The students were 100% committed to the cause and worked hard to come up with creative ways of raising money. I’d like to thank Edinburgh Harley Davidson for lending us the motorbike for the photo opportunities – it went down a storm.”

Student Makeda Lambie said: “We learned so much from undertaking this project and have gained skills to help prepare us for the job market through planning the events. Without working as a team we wouldn’t have been able to raise such an impressive amount of money and we are all delighted our hard work has paid off.  We can’t wait to donate the proceeds to The Yard.”

The Yard partnerships manager Anna Robinson said: “From everyone at The Yard we would like to say a huge thank you to all the students for raising such a phenomenal amount of money. The Yard provides adventure play and respite services to over 2,000 disabled children and young people from across the city and is a real life line to many families. The students’ support will enable us to continue to run these much needed and well-loved services, thank you!”