PHILIPPINES RELIEF FUNDRAISER

After one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded hit the Philippines in November leaving thousands dead, injured and homeless , teachers and students in the Senior School decided to organise a series of fund- raising events in response to the disaster.

The main event was a charity concert held after school in the Black Box, revamped with banners and flags, which reverberated with the funky sounds of a local Philippine band. The band, Puzzles, well- known in Tianjin, donated their time for free and gave a fantastic performance of songs that all the audience knew and joined in with, with some pupils even singing alongside them on stage!

As Bob Geldof knows so well (google him!) a concert takes some planning and there was a lot of work behind the scenes at short notice to put on such a fun event. The Student Council were very active designing posters, advertising the concert, selling fish wristbands, organising sponsors and encouraging everyone to dig deep and donate as much as they could. Before the music began, they raised a considerable sum selling snacks, popcorn, sweets and drinks, with the St. Regis Hotel generously donating hand-made cakes and cookies as well. It was great to see it all go so smoothly and to watch everyone having a good time whilst raising money for others in such need of help.

The amount raised was over $2800 USD, a fantastic effort, and this will be used, very appropriately, to help rebuild a school destroyed by the typhoon. For more details on this and also to see some of the photos taken of the concert please have a look at the boards outside the Library.

BBC reported on 11^th February on its article - School Students Play Part in Philippines Typhoon Recovery that the money raised from schools in China, including Wellington College International Tianjin, has been allocated to support the recovery and reconstruction in the country.