CHARITY AT ST GILES
All of our centres in the UK, USA and Canada are committed to raising money for charity. We are lucky to have fantastic staff and students who are generous with their time and enjoy getting involved to raise money and have some fun along the way too! Have a look at some of the events we held in 2016 in our video here.
Charitable Donations
Since 2013 all students are asked to give an optional charitable donation of £1 GBP/ $1 USD / $1 CAD when they make a booking at St Giles. This money is donated to the four main St Giles charities that our UK schools support: Heart Children's Home, Expand, Cancer Research and Go Make it Happen. You can find more information about these charities below.
St Giles UK English Language Schools
In 2016, the St Giles schools in the UK raised a fantastic £5663.07 for charity. St Giles trebled this and donated £14,631.21 to charity. The money went to the following charities:
New Heart Foundation in Malindi, Kenya
This orphanage provides a safe home for more than 20 children, helping them to be well nourished, get an education, and look forward to the future. We were introduced to this charity by a partner of St Giles, Julia Steiner, who has worked tirelessly to help support this fantastic charity. We are very pleased to help contribute as well.
Expand (Build Malawi Project, Chisala)
Expand is a UK organisation that aims to help facilitate education for people in poor communities across the globe. Currently their country of operation is Malawi where they are building schools and facilitating training. Money from St Giles has helped towards the development of their school in Chisala, and we have also sent books for the library. Additionally, in August 2012 the St Giles Educational Trust sent a teacher trainer to the school to help their staff of 40 teachers develop new ways to help the pupils learn.
Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK are a leading UK charity dedicated to saving lives through research, trying to find new and better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.
Go Make it Happen
Go Make it Happen is a charity set up by a former St Giles Principal, Keith Harding, in memory of his son Sam. The charity is dedicated to helping young people aged between 18 and 30 achieve things in their lives that they would not otherwise be able to do, in particular in the area of travel and tourism.
Hope for Children
Last year we also donated £1,500 of the money raised in the UK schools to Hope for Children. This charity was voted by a student poll as the charity they wanted to donate this money to. The charity is committed to improving the lives of children all over the world.
St Giles North American English Language Schools
In 2016 our St Giles San Francisco school donated $1386 to charity following fundraising events at the school. They raised $462 and this was trebled by St Giles. Money raised through International Food Day, the Halloween party and the bake sale went to the St Giles charities, and the money raised for Haiti went to the Haiti Hurricane Appeal.
In 2016, our St Giles New York school raised $394.66 which was donated to the American Red Cross and St Giles charities. Money was raised through events such as the Christmas party and Thanksgiving events, Hurricane Matthew donations and the Christmas party!
Our St Giles Vancouver school also raised money for local charities in 2016. The centre donated a total of $2604 to the following charities: Room to Read, Union Gospel Mission, Food for the Hungry, St Matthew's Church, Canadian Red Cross, Mouth and Foot Painting, Covenant House, Canadian Wildlife Foundation, Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, Heart and Stroke Foundation. The money was raised from many events including the Summer BBQ, Thanksgiving Food Drive and the Christmas Sweater Day.
St Giles Educational Trust
St Giles also has its own charity - at the heart of our teacher training operation is the St Giles Educational Trust, a registered charity established in 1970. The key aim of the Trust is to promote excellence in English language teaching through the St Giles initial training and continuing professional development programmes for UK and overseas teachers. To learn more about the work of the St Giles Educational Trust, visit the Trust Website or contact us on info@stgilesedtrust.org.