Former volunteer Will Norton recently organised a Movember fundraising campaign with his classmates in Oxford University. The campaign raised €3,400 and the gang had lots of laughs along the way. Will explains here about what motivated him to fundraise and why Barretstown has a special place in his heart.
“Barretstown is the happiest place I know. To those who have never been there, this may sound odd. It is a place that is confronted with the saddest and most painful aspects of life everyday but yet, it is in the midst of these realities that Barretstown creates levels of happiness and joy that I have yet to find elsewhere.
I was lucky enough to get to volunteer for a 7-day camp in July 2014. It was genuinely one of the best experiences of my life. Barretstown has a unique ability to wash away all of the unimportant stuff. It’s a place that requires you to leave life’s trivialities at the gate and to play your part in creating a special sanctuary for the children. It completely refocused my life.
This year, amongst other things, I am doing an MBA in Oxford University. When November rolled around, with Barretstown never far from my mind, some classmates and I decided to run a Movember campaign to raise money for the camp. In true Barretstown style, people came together, had great fun and achieved wonderful things. Harnessing our ability to grow terrible moustaches and willingness to look ridiculous, we collected money throughout the month from our horrified colleagues. The month culminated in a fundraiser concert where we held an auction for items kindly donated throughout the campaign. These items ranged from a dinner with the Dean of the Business School to the right to wear a classmate’s 3 Olympic medals for the night.
To my amazement, just hearing about Barretstown was enough inspire my classmates Chris, Nathan, Pratik and too many others to name, into action. I can’t think of a greater testament of their character.
It’s funny; friends and family remarked how on ‘good’ I was to volunteer and raise money but the real truth is that Barretstown has given me far more than I could ever give back.”
