Picture: Becky Saunderson. Image No.044100
A NORTH-east charity devoted to helping people with serious sight or hearing loss have been handed a £3000 cheque from a group of Buckie Community High School students. The seventh annual Youth Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) finals was held on May 29 at the school where eight groups of S2 students made often impassioned 10-minute presentations for their chosen charity to receive the cash pot. Victory for the quartet of Callum Blake, George Wallace, Euan Lawrence and Aidan Parrott against stiff competition was enough to secure the funding for North East Sensory Services (Ness). The finals were the culmination of a 10-week programme involving the whole of S2 which saw groups of youngsters research local charities before picking one. A charity fair in school gave the students a chance to meet representatives face to face and, once they had selected their charity, were encouraged to visit and see them in action. Young Callum filmed his group’s visit to Ness, some of which was later used in the group presentation, which the lads went on to do without the aid of any notes. The choice of Ness was a very personal one to Callum. “Ness have given me a lot of help and I know other people they have helped, too,” he said. “It feels amazing to have won and to know the money
is going to such a good cause. All of our hard work was worth it. “Going into the finals I was hopeful we’d win but was a bit on edge as I was really impressed by the other finalists.
See full story in Banffshire Advertiser 11.06.2019