Ilford girl gets award nomination for fundraiser in grandmother's memory
Simran-Katy Kaur Rao sold daffodils at school to raise money for Marie Curie - Credit: Park School for Girls
An Ilford girl has been nominated for an award after organising charity fundraising initiatives at school in honour of her grandmother.
Simran-Katy Kaur Rao is the latest nominee for the Ilford Recorder/Redbridge Rotary Young Citizen Awards, which bid to recognise the outstanding achievements of young people in the borough aged 25 and under.
The 13-year-old generated £544 for charity Marie Curie, whose nurses cared for her grandmother Narinder Kaur in 2012.
Narinder suffered from end stage heart failure and Simran-Katy said the charity supported the family at the time.
To mark the ten-year anniversary of Narinder's death in March, the Park School for Girls pupil came up with the idea of selling daffodils at the school as part of Marie Curie's Great Daffodil Appeal.
She arrived early at the school, in Park Avenue, Ilford, each day for a week and sold daffodils at the gate.
Simran-Katy also sold Easter raffle tickets at break and lunchtimes and initiated a tuck shop to raise cash for the charity.
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She said: "I really enjoyed raising money for Marie Curie.
"This money can go towards nursing care for someone living with a terminal illness in their own home to give their family a break during the day or the night, or even help the family by taking them into a hospice to give the family a break for a few days."
Simran-Katy took her ideas to the school's headteacher Catherine Redfern, who supported them.
Mrs Redfern said she was very proud of the kindness, entrepreneurship and initiative demonstrated by Simran-Katy.
She added: “Here at Park School for Girls we encourage all pupils to develop a range of skills inside and outside of the classroom and also to look wider, beyond themselves, to think about others."
The overall winner of the award will receive £100 from Redbridge Rotary Club and will, along with the runner-up, go through to the national Young Citizen final run by Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland.
To nominate someone, contact michael.cox@archant.co.uk at the Recorder or visit www.redbridgerotaryclub.org/contact giving information about the nomination and contact details.
