'There's no event too small, idea too wacky - if you have the oomph to do it, do it!'

Edinburgh University's Nursing Society with Beat balloons on their sponsored walk.

Why did you/your society decide to fundraise for Beat?

As Charity Secretary for the Nursing Society at Edinburgh University, I put Beat forward to be our named charity after experiencing first-hand the support the charity offers some years previous. I also wanted to put Beat forward as I'm an online volunteer and I've thus seen the positive impact Beat has on individuals/families/professionals who are affected by eating disorders.

As a committee, we recognise that eating disorders are cruel and do not discriminate and with many members who've been affected by eating disorders, we were committed to doing all we can as a society to raise awareness and fundraise.
What activity did you organise and why?

For our first semester, I wanted to organise a big event as an introduction to the charity and to start conversations amongst society members and their wider social circles - their friends and family etc. We decided on doing a sponsored walk where participants could select the distance they wanted to do and these distances varied from 10K up to a full marathon! We created a map that everyone would follow, with the varying distances on and everyone got going with their own fundraising and stories.

How did you share what you were doing?

We decided to use JustGiving as our fundraising platform as we could create a ‘Team’ where everyone walking could connect their individual fundraising page to the main one so we could see the total going up and up!

This was then shared through our society pages, university emails, lecturers and the wider university; we even put up posters in social spaces and the library etc to raise awareness. The main events page was created and shared with participants so that we could add important information such as what to bring on the day/training ideas/how to request a Beat t-shirt and even creating a shared music playlist!
Why do you feel it is important to raise awareness of eating disorders at university?

Having an eating disorder can be a very lonely and overwhelming time for someone. This, coupled with being at university and all the challenges that brings especially with being away from home/family and the stress of workload pressures, is one of the factors that influenced our decision to raise awareness of eating disorders as students at university. But also as healthcare students we felt a certain responsibility to talk about such illnesses that often fall under mainstream knowledge.
Have you had any feedback from participants and is your society thinking of holding any events/activities again in the future?

Yes! We are already planning our next ‘big’ event like the sponsored walk which will follow Eating Disorder Awareness Week. The theme for EDAW 2022 is very relevant to our society as it focuses on professionals and professional education.

I also wanted to do a well-being event in the new year for society members with a Beat Ambassador who will talk about their experiences with an eating disorder and the work that Beat do as a charity to support people affected by eating disorders. We're going to follow this with a yoga session! We’re all looking forward to this.
Do you have any advice for others considering fundraising at university?

My advice is simply just to do it! It is such a fun process and the overwhelming feeling of pride after completing an activity, or knowing you have made a difference in some way, through talking, sharing, educating and raising money is such a great feeling. There's no event too small, idea too wacky, if you have the oomph to do it, do it!

Contributed by Rosie