Lauren Mahoney (2nd right) being presented with her £50 prize by (from left to right) Alexa Webster, Community and Welfare President, Oussama Kardi, Isoc President 2014-15 and Rob Gofton, FXU CEO.

In 2015 the FXU Islamic Society, joined forces with Students Union groups around the country to launch a national campaign called ‘Believe and Do Good’. The campaign was based on many references from the Qur’an to the immense reward awaiting those who believe and do good to demonstrate the positive action of the Islamic faith. The competition-style campaign, started by the Federation of Student Islamic Societies, aims to encourage Islamic Societies from around the country to go out within their communities and support those who are less fortunate and able, and to help raise money for the charity, Human Appeal. Human Appeal is one of the UK’s fastest growing charities, with a presence in 25 countries throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The Charity helps to deliver emergency humanitarian assistance and undertakes sustainable development programmes in the world’s poorest nations.

As part of the award winning campaign, the FXU Islamic Society put on a number of fundraising and volunteering events for all students to get involved with. They held a cake sale to raise funds, volunteered to hand out roses as part of the ‘FXU LOVES YOU’ campaign, collected 122kg of food for the local food back and were responsible for organising a student blood donation session in Penryn and Falmouth, recording 178 student donations. The students also joined forces with students from the University of Exeter’s Medical School and PCMD in Truro, enabling 111 new donors to sign up to the Antony Nolan Bone Marrow register. As part of the drive, an incentive of £50 would be given to one lucky donor, picked at random. The winner, Lauren Mahoney, a third year BA Politics and International Studies student, donated blood as part of the campaign.

Lauren, a first-time blood donor, said “having an event set up for students was a great idea. It was nice to recognise friendly faces around the room, and I will certainly be getting involved again.”

The exceptional performance and effort of the FXU Islamic Society gained them Regional and National recognition, and a total of 13 awards for the campaign.

Since this award winning campaign took place in February, FXU Islamic Society pledged to raise a further £10,000 for the Human Appeal, to help provide aid for the Syrian refugee crisis. £10,000 would pay for a full food truck that will feed 5,000 Syrians for a whole month. The fundraising began In July and the team have already risen over £4,000 for the cause, by running a series of events on both the Penryn and Falmouth Campuses. The pledge has also seen great support from other FXU Societies, with African Caribbean Society (ACS) being the most recent to fundraise and contribute to the cause. If you or your club or society would like to get involved, please contact volunteeringandrad@fxu.org.uk or the FXU Islamic Society directly.