UCLan students raise vital funds for British Heart Foundation
Students from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) have raised more than £10,000 for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) by diverting 6.2 tonnes of rubbish away from landfill.
Throughout the last academic year, students donated 745 bags of unwanted items from halls of residences worth up to £10,822 to the BHF that would otherwise have ended up being thrown away.
The University has worked with the charity on its ‘Pack for Good’ campaign since 2012, collecting more than 3,300 bags of donated items. This year students filled campus wide clothing banks with their unwanted items including clothes, shoes, books, DVDs and accessories that were then passed onto the local BHF store in Blackburn.
Clair Engl, Environment and Sustainability Manager at UCLan, commented: “Our work with the British Heart Foundation has grown over the last few years and it’s great to see more and more students getting involved and really making a difference to the charity.
“We try to engage as many staff and students as possibility in the sustainability initiatives we run across campus and the Pack for Good campaign is a great example of this.”
The money raised from this partnership will go on to fund BHF researchers who are relentlessly working towards the fight for every heartbeat. The BHF is the UK’s largest funder of cardiovascular research funding more than half of all academic heart research carried out in hospitals and universities.
"Our work with the British Heart Foundation has grown over the last few years and it’s great to see more and more students getting involved and really making a difference to the charity."
Amanda Purkiss, University Account Executive at the British Heart Foundation, said: “We’ve been delighted with the response from UCLan students and their overwhelming support for the Pack For Good campaign. BHF rely solely on stock donations to keep our shops going and thanks to generous donations from the students and staff of the universities we have been able to help our shops in Lancashire.
“If any other Universities or businesses would like to work with BHF shops and provide collection facilities, it’s really easy to set this up, just get in touch. Coronary heart disease is the UK’s single biggest killer, shattering the lives of millions of children, parents and grandparents - you can still join the fight for every heartbeat by having a clear out and donating your unwanted items to your local BHF shop.”
UCLan will make another big push for donations next February as part of its annual Green Week event.