Thousands of students across the UK and overseas are embarking on a week of Covid-safe activities to raise funds for children across the world for international charity Islamic Relief.
Charity Week takes place between 26 October and 1 November this year and involves student Islamic Societies up and down the country donating their time, energy and goodwill to raise money for Islamic Relief.
People will take part in various events including sponsored bungee jumps in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow, as well as the ‘2020 Challenge’, in which fundraisers are asked to pick a challenge like walking, running or cycling, apply the number 20 to it and ask for sponsorship.
Charity Week began as an annual volunteer-led campaign launched by a group of students in London back in 2003. Over the years it has raised over nine million pounds. Funds raised go to emergency and long-term care for children in some of the world’s poorest places and fragile environments, like Gaza, Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan.
Tufail Hussain, Director of Islamic Relief UK, said: ‘It’s so inspiring to see volunteers from all over the world make such an effort to fundraise for some of the world’s most vulnerable people – particularly in a year that has been extraordinarily tough for so many of us.
‘A staggering one in five children across the world live in extreme poverty. Sadly, the coronavirus crisis and global economic downturn threatens to increase this figure. But while we have been going through unprecedented hard times ourselves, we must not turn our backs on the world’s poorest.
‘It’s amazing to see so many young people give back. Charity Week is a practical example of what happens when people decide that they will put aside their differences and work together to build a better, more hopeful world.’
