Students from St Basil’s Catholic Primary School in Widnes raised over £589 for the Ukrainian Family Hub in Warrington after enjoying an afternoon of hiking around the school grounds.
The afternoon started with a presentation from Kate McCarthy-Booth who is the founder of the hub and is also a host for a Ukrainian family.
Kate told students about her experience of hosting a family and shared details about the hub which provides support to Ukrainian families living in the north west, as well as their hosts.
Children got into the spirit of things and wore small items of yellow and/or blue clothing such as socks, hair accessories and hats along with their usual school uniform.
During the hike, children from every year group completed laps of the course set out around the school grounds. Along the way they collected facts about the country to show the school is ‘United with Ukraine’.
Kate Dooley from St Basil’s said: “We were so impressed with the response of our families who were more than generous in donating to the Hub in order to support their amazing work. More than this though, was the genuine desire of our children to make a difference to the lives of others who are experiencing such a difficult time. The event was a true example of living out our school mission and following Jesus. “
Kate McCarthy‑Booth,said: “What a wonderful opportunity to come and speak to the children. The children were wonderful and the whole experience was fantastic. The money raised will be so welcomed and enable us to create memories for so many children, we cannot thank the children and parents of St Basil’s enough for their support. I thought the whole initiative was well thought through and the teaching staff had gone to a huge effort!”
Joan McCarthy, director of education at the Archdiocese of Liverpool, who attended the hike said: “It was absolutely wonderful to see the children from all year groups come together and work so hard to raise funds for the hub. Everyone at St Basil’s should be incredibly proud of themselves.”
The Archdiocese of Liverpool has been supporting the Ukrainian Hub Warrington as part of its #Liverpool4Ukraine appeal and has donated money to the hub which has been used to pay for trips, children’s birthday parties and towards funding to purchase a minibus.
More information about the hub can be found here: Home(ukrainehubwarrington.co.uk)
