2020 has been hard to say the least, and even though it looks like we’re not going to be ending this year on a hugely positive note, York’s Unlimited Giving Day may just about restore your faith in the place we call home.
Unlimited Giving Day is running from 4-5 November, and its aim is to get as many people as possible to help support a variety of great student and mental health causes. The ways of offering your support include donating money on the York Giving Day 2020 page, or even becoming an ambassador for the event! This is a very flexible role and how you choose to share the day is completely up to you. Whether you’re more active on Instagram or your emails, spreading awareness of the event could make a HUGE difference.
There are so many amazing causes that you can help to support. A particular favourite of mine is the Mentally Fit York Fund, which hopes to “transform mental health on a local, national and international scale”. With the second lockdown fastly approaching, I believe that now, more than ever, we need to help people’s mental health in any way we possibly can. This fund has pledged to grant 24/7 access to Togetherall, an online platform where people can go and express how they’re currently feeling. So, no matter where people are in the world right now, there is always somewhere to turn if you’re feeling pretty down.
This wonderful cause has also pledged to “support Mental Health Nursing Scholarships”, which is incredibly apt for all the hard work they are doing at the moment.
Another remarkable cause is Yufund. Yufund helps to support staff and students whose personal projects boost our university experience. By supporting York’s Giving Day, you could help the campus production that sparks a student’s passion for creative arts, or a project that assists a student in becoming the next world class graduate. Who knows, maybe in the next lockdown one of you could come up with a ground-breaking idea, or become SO GOOD at a new hobby that it could lead to a new career path? This is all the more reason to donate!
The causes that I have mentioned are just a few of the many that York are hoping to support in the next few days. More include: the York Futures Scholarship, which gives students a chance to achieve career and volunteering opportunities (for when we are finally free), and the Equal Access Scholarship, which tries to ensure that people who are caught in conflict are given an equal chance at gaining the best education they can from the University.
Although we do have one countdown that is, quite literally, putting all of our lives on hold right now (I feel like I’ve reached the final moments of the Countdown conundrum), the live countdown to York’s Giving Day is a shining light of positivity during this uncertain time.