Murton Trust were delighted to receive a £3000 grant after being selected as a nominated charity by two young people at Webster’s High School, Kirriemuir. Each year the school take part in the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative Scotland project, with all 2nd year pupils participating.
At Webster’s High School, Willow Heinowski and Carla McKenzie selected Murton Trust as their chosen charity. The young people must identify a social issue in their local area, a charity that supports that issue then prepare and showcase a presentation to a judging panel, in their own creative way. The students completed excellent research and created an amazing presentation that delighted the judges at Websters a few weeks ago.
Murton Trust Manager, Alison Elliott said “Murton are absolutely thrilled to be the recipient of £3000 following the hard work and commitment of Willow and Carla to this project. Our community is always the focus of the work we do at Murton. We welcome over 100 young people each year to attend our programmes and it is incredibly rewarding to have young people acknowledge our charity and support us by securing this significant grant.”
The Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) is managed and principally funded by The Wood Foundation, a charity established in 2007 by Sir Ian Wood and his immediate family. This year, 280 schools across Scotland are taking part in the programme and close to 40,000 young people will direct £840,000 to small grassroots charities.
Alex Reid, Programme Manager at The Wood Foundation, said; “YPI gives young people a valuable opportunity to advocate for social issues and charities in their local area while developing skills and awareness to make a positive difference in their communities. Over the last five years, nearly 600 young people from Webster’s High School have been responsible for granting £15,000 to local causes in Angus, which has had an enormous impact locally. This year, we are delighted to congratulate the winning students from Webster’s High who were advocating for the Murton Trust, who enjoyed engaging with the charity through their visits and were very well supported by Murton staff and volunteers during the process. The students worked hard to deliver a creative and engaging presentation on the work of the Trust to secure the £3000 grant on their behalf. Our YPI work would not be possible without the support of our Principal Funding Partner in Dundee & Angus, The Northwood Trust, and our valued school and charity partners.”
Carla and Willow recently visited Murton and spent a day working with staff. Willow explained why she wanted to support Murton. “We picked Murton Trust as our charity because it is a place to have fun, be ourselves and connect with nature. Murton helps a lot with Mental Health and the Environment which we thought was really important.” Carla stated “When I visited Murton I realised how much it can help not only animals, but people too. That’s why I believe that Murton can make a difference.” During their volunteering day they are pictured presenting their cheque to the staff and animals on the farm.