Charity caring is a '˜piece of cake' for NRC students

Caitlin Meenan, Coleraine; Cathlyn McDowell, Coleraine; Holly Duncan, Portrush; and Gemma Reid, Cullybackey, Sharmayne Simmons, Health and Social Care course co-ordinator. Health and Social Care students at Northern Regional College in Coleraine launched their annual charity fundraising campaign this week.

Each year, Health and Social Care students across all six campuses select a charity to support.

Their nominated charity this year is AWARE, the national depression charity for Northern Ireland. Last year, staff and students raised over £4000 for the premature baby charity, Tiny Feet.

Sharmayne Simmons, Health and Social Care course co-ordinator, explains why the Level 3 Health and Social Care students agreed to focus their fundraising efforts on AWARE.

“Depression is a serious illness affecting thousands of people in Northern Ireland. Many of our students will know of someone who is suffering from depression. They also know that mental health services are under-resourced so they decided it would be a very worthwhile cause to support.”

The Coleraine campus cake sale was the first in a series of fundraising events scheduled for AWARE.

AWARE provides an invaluable service helping people to overcome depression. It offers group support for people affected by depression or bipolar disorder, as well as carers for people with the illness and delivers mental health and well-being programmes into communities, schools, colleges, universities and workplace settings.

The charity has an established network of 24 support groups in rural and urban areas across Northern Ireland the country, which are run by trained volunteers. AWARE also delivers Information Outreach sessions and attends community events to give more information about AWARE and its services.