Funds Raised by IS Community Help Students from HK Schools Continue Their Education

Money raised by the Island School community, through the sale of raffle tickets, was donated to 98 students from local schools on 4 June 2016.

Students from different local schools received $2,500 from the Nicola Myers and Kenneth McBride Memorial (NMKM) Fund created in memory of two former Island School students who lost their lives in 1985. Island School’s Parent Teacher Association who coordinates the raffle, donates half the profits to the NMKM Fund, the other half is used to purchase resources for the school. Funding also comes from donors from within the Island School Community. Students from local schools can then apply for the fix sum of $2,500 which they can choose to spend as they wish. Many students use the money for: books, extra tuition, summer courses while others use the money to pay for travel or school lunches.

At a giving ceremony Principal Chris Binge explained: “The Fund gets many applications from students who crucially need the money and the support we can give through the NMKM Fund changes lives. The most important thing that the recipients say is that the awards show that people care about them.”

All the applications for the awards are proposed and supported by letters from the schools’ principals. Their letters explain their circumstances:

• A student got eye cancer and became blind aged two-years-old but has shown persistence and attained excellent results in many subjects.
• A student has lost both parents and has lived in different foster homes but has never given-up and actively participates in different activities and hopes to study abroad in Taiwan after graduation.
• A student’s mother died of cancer last year which made him determined to be a doctor. He plans to further his studies at University.

Principal at Holy Trinity College Mrs. Jane Or whose students received funds in 2015 said: “The fund provides a positive encouragement to our students in recognition of their strength and perseverance under adverse conditions. In practice, students have made use of the grant in sponsoring their own family expenses or buying additional study reference materials. The grant has extended to them a spirit of community support.”