Brasenose’s wonderful community spirit is one of the main reasons why I chose to run for the position of Charities Rep. It’s such an enjoyable and rewarding role, as I get to see how passionate our students are about helping others, and guide them in doing so. The JCR (our student council) contributes to charities in a range of ways - both individually, through volunteering and sponsored events, and as a group, through regular fundraisers and termly donations. It’s amazing to be writing this article, knowing how much good we’ve done as a college community even within the short period of time that I’ve been Rep so far. Here’s an overview of what’s been going on in Charities during this academic year...
As homelessness is a prevailing issue in Oxford, it is a cause that many Brasenose students develop an interest in. The organisation that we are perhaps most active in supporting is Turl Street Homeless Action, a student-led outreach group who walk around the city centre in the evenings to provide the homeless with drinks, food and – most importantly – company. Through their Brasenose Rep, many students have become involved in the group over the past couple of years, with three of us (and counting!) on the committee. We also have a system of ongoing fundraising for the homeless: our new JCR Airbed Scheme. Started by a student and now running from the lodge, this system lets students rent airbeds for their guests for £3 per night, with all money raised going to Oxford Homeless Pathways in a termly donation. This initiative has proven to be hugely successful, raising £144 in our autumn term alone! Then – as if that weren’t enough – in the same term two of our students took part in the Oxford Big Sleepout to raise money for local homeless charities. Thanks to the contribution of many Brasenose students, they raised £472 out of a grand total of over £22,000! The money raised was split across three charities that provide both immediate and long term support for the homeless, including shelter, food, education and employability training.
Our community spirit is what makes Brasenose a great college for charities. Last term, our previous Rep, Elin, proposed a “charity shop swap” BOP (read more about BOPs) theme, which was presented in a poll with two other options. Brasenose got into the charitable spirit and voted for this theme, meaning that many of us spent the afternoon of the bop frantically searching around charity shops to buy the most ludicrous outfits we could find for our friends. After the bop, Elin took in our unwanted costumes and re-donated them to charity, meaning that we all had a fun night whilst making double the contribution to good causes. This spirit has continued into the spring term, with an 80s-themed karaoke night as our first event of term. The theme was chosen as a tribute to the charity hero George Michael, with all money raised going to the HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust. With his passing in December 2016 and the subsequent discovery of his amazing philanthropic work, it only seemed right to hold a night in his honour, in aid of one of the charities he supported. The night was a success and everyone had a great time, raising £140 in total.
This event was a great start to spring, but the fundraising hasn’t stopped there! More recently this term, one of our students organised a pub quiz down the bar to raise money for the charity Tz Rising, which aims to reduce educational inequality for girls in Tanzania. This was followed by a ‘promise auction’ in aid of the SAM Project in Zambia, which is currently fundraising to build a rainwater dam in one of the driest regions of the country. These fantastic events raised approx. £75 and £350 respectively for these two great causes, in addition to the donation that we make to six JCR-elected charities every term. These charities (two local, two national and two international) receive around £370 each, thanks to the £7 termly donation that many students opt to contribute to the Charity fund. On top of this, toward the end of Hilary the JCR voted in support of a motion proposed by one of our second-years to make a donation to Giving What We Can: Oxford’s Big Match Campaign. This fortnight-long campaign saw all donations made to the Against Malaria Foundation matched by their donors, meaning that our £80 contribution was doubled to £160! This will go a long way to save lives in some of the poorest regions of Africa.
In an effort to promote our JCR’s fantastic attitude to charity, this January we set up a new Facebook page called Brasenose Volunteering. The aim of this page is to create a supportive environment to share and promote volunteering opportunities and celebrate all the good that Brasenose students do. It was also created with the goal of normalising volunteer work, so that students who wouldn’t have previously considered it can see how popular it is. With the stress of university, volunteering is a great way to “escape the bubble” and put things into perspective, all whilst making a difference in the community. The group currently has 70 members, and has already had contributions from several students involved with a range of causes! The plan for next term is to use this page to coordinate group volunteering sessions, in order to encourage those who are new to volunteer work to give it a go with the support of their friends.
However, volunteering isn’t the only way that our students contribute to charity on an individual level. As ever, we have a large Brasenose contingent signed up for this year’s Town and Gown 10k run in support of Muscular Dystrophy UK. Each person to enter contributes £30 to the cause and is encouraged to raise more through sponsorship if they wish. Two of our current first years were also the winners of this year’s RAG Jailbreak Challenge, managing to make it all the way to Western Sahara (with no money!) within 36 hours, and raising over £1,100 along the way! This fantastic total will be split between this year’s four RAG charities: Oxford Homeless Pathways, Oxford Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre, SCI, and Student Minds.
As I’m sure you can see, our JCR really does have the most fantastic attitude towards charity. This is one of the many things that makes me proud to call myself a Brasenose student. With all of these brilliant charitable achievements so far, I can’t wait to see all the good that we continue to do in the summer term!
Yasemin Acikgoz (Student Charities Rep and Second Year Psychology Student)