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Student makes "Wish Dolls" to raise money for Kenya
A KIND-HEARTED student from Cornwall College St Austell has been raising money for a project in Kenya this month by selling her hand-crafted wish dolls to staff and fellow students.
Laura-Nicole Andrews, 17, from Bodmin, who is studying A-levels in Textiles, English, Maths and Graphics at the College, came up with the idea of the wish dolls after making a pin cushion for her sewing needs. Each doll is made out of materials left over from her textiles lesson and takes approximately 45 minutes to make. The idea behind the dolls is for people to purchase them and feel a sense of wishful thinking.
The wish dolls, which are on sell in the College’s A-level Centre, are being sold from £1. All the profit raised will go towards the building of a volunteer block in Rongai, Kenya, which will enable the College to sustain its projects and volunteering programmes for staff and students. Laura-Nicole is not going to Kenya herself, but is very pleased with the money she has raised so far to help fund this project.
Laura-Nicole recently attended an Employability Day at the College where students were set a task to see who could raise the most money for a good cause. It was then Laura-Nicole realised she could put her skills into practice and create the wish dolls to raise the money she needed to win the competition and the funds needed to help the Kenya project.
While taking part in this day Laura-Nicole also gained many new skills, such as finding out more about herself as an individual, marketing skills and how to pitch a business. “I really enjoyed this day and took this great opportunity to start taking my wish dolls idea I had further as I was given the confidence I needed to create and sell my product. I have many different designed dolls and can personalise to suit my customers. It’s definitely something I hope to continue after finishing my studies.”
Dave Linnell, Principal of Cornwall College, said: “It is great to see Laura doing something so creative and using her own initiative and the skills she has learnt while studying at the College for such a wonderful cause.”
Cornwall College St Austell offers a wide range of full and part-time courses, with places still available for this September. For further information about studying at the College, please call 0845 22 32 567 or visit www.cornwall.ac.uk.
