Who am I ?

My name is Andrew Lee, and I am 17 years old (Year 12/Lower Sixth), studying at Westminster School in London. I've been fortunate to have been privileged in life, so now I wish to give back to society in these difficult times, just as my school ethos has taught me. Therefore I have set up this fundraising project.

What I aim to achieve

I plan to visit my local parks, Holland Park and Marcus Garvey Park, in the morning for 30 days and help to keep their footpaths litter-free. When I visit those parks, I see quite a lot of litter on the ground, which is an obstruction and makes the footpaths seem dirtier than they actually are. Although the regular park cleaners do their job regularly and keep the paths clear of the worst rubbish, the pandemic has led to them not cleaning as frequently as they used to, and so bits and pieces are left over.

By cleaning these items up, I hope to benefit local animals and plants, and make easier the efforts of others to stay healthy and active as we endure this crisis. I'll be writing a daily blog on https://thoughtsonparkcleaning.blogspot.com/ to keep track of my thoughts during this time, so I'd be very grateful if you could take a look there and share your thoughts!

Why Guy's and St Thomas'?

I was originally scheduled to do a volunteering placement with St Thomas’ Hospital in April 2020. This was organised through my school, Westminster, and would have involved talking to patients on the wards and offering moral support. However, the pandemic meant that it unfortunately could not proceed. I am intending to study medicine at university and I applied to this programme, so it was a great shame that I could not participate. However, St Thomas’ still remained on my thoughts, and I considered other ways in which I could contribute.

Then I discovered ’30 in 30’, a fundraiser that St Thomas' Hospital has set up which encourages people to do something for 30 days, thus raising money to support the NHS. Since I am also enthusiastic about the environment, I decided to merge my passions and raise funds through park cleaning to contribute to St Thomas’ during the pandemic. Your support will be greatly appreciated in these difficult times.