PUPILS at a Dumfries primary school have made a very kind donation to the Children’s Ward at the new Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary (DGRI).
The P5 class at St Andrew’s Roman Catholic Primary selected the hospital ward as one of three recipients for money generated through their part in the Virgin Money ‘Make £5 Grow’ initiative – last week presenting a cheque for £128 to Julie White, Chief Operating Officer for NHS Dumfries and Galloway and Chief Officer of Dumfries and Galloway Health and Social Care Partnership.
Julie said: “It’s extremely kind and very thoughtful of the pupils at St Andrew’s to select the children’s ward at the new Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary to receive this generous gift.
“I visited St Andrew’s and was struck by how much knowledge pupils had of the hospital which opened at Garroch Loaning at the outskirts of Dumfries in December, and about its fantastic new ground floor Children’s Ward which opens out into a specially-designed outdoor play area.
“Money kindly donated by the children will go towards play equipment in the outdoor garden, and we can’t thank the pupils of St Andrew’s enough.”
The Make £5 Grow initiative gives young people aged between 9 and 11 years old the experience of starting a small business using a £5 loan from Virgin Money.
The programme gives pupils an insight into how business works, and it helps them to build skills for the future such as team-working, problem solving, leadership, money management and creativity. The initiative is now in its sixth year, with 800 primary schools and over 60,000 pupils having participated.
The class of 29 pupils at St Andrew’s took part in the project, and together they generated a massive profit of £1094.20.
They generated the profit through initiatives such as baking and selling cupcakes, carrying out car washes, making sweets and creating Christmas decorations.
Some of the profits raised will be used to fund a class trip, with the children deciding to donate 35 per cent of their profits to charitable causes.
A vote amongst the pupils saw the children’s ward selected as a recipient. The other recipients were the Dumfries and Galloway-based charity Massive Outpourings of Love, which is a humanitarian movement dedicated to helping people in need, and the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF), which is a Scottish Catholic charity working to end poverty around the world.
Class teacher Claire Kerr said: “I’m very proud of the efforts of the entire class. Their enthusiasm and entrepreneurial spirit was overshadowed only by the compassion that they showed, in wanting to help people who are less fortunate than themselves.”
