Oktoberfest students’ ‘phenomenal’ donation to TCCL
Members of the University’s St Andrews Oktoberfest committee have been thanked for their latest donation of £20,000 to TCCL.
During the course of the last 13 years, the annual Oktoberfest event held at Kinkell Byre has raised money for TCCL (Tayside and North East Fife Children with Cancer and Leukaemia).
Last week members of the committee visited the Lodge and heard more about the tremendous difference their support has made to the charity from the charity’s Chairperson John Walker and Trustee Lindsey Alexander, senior communications manager at the University.
Oktoberfest committee president, 4th-year Mathematics student Paula Plechschmidt, said: “I know that some time ago previous committee members decided they wanted to focus fundraising on supporting a local charity and TCCL Lodge fitted the bill. It was great to visit the Lodge and hear more about the families who come here and how our donation helps the charity continue to run this brilliant service. As students, we are incredibly lucky and appreciative to call St Andrews our home and we are proud to have found a (Bavarian) way to show our gratitude to our new-found community here in Fife.”
Commenting on the success of this year’s Oktoberfest event – the first one to be held since the Covid pandemic – Paula added: “This year we raised £30,000. £20,000 has been donated TCCL and the remaining £10,000 was donated to The Tablekotchic Charity Foundation – a Ukraine-based charity, which provides targeted assistance to children with cancer in Ukraine despite the full-scale military invasion backed by Russian forces. The foundation advocates for the timely access of essential drugs for chemotherapy and provides psychological support to all children before and after treatment. Because cancer doesn’t stop during wartime.”
Thanking the committee for their support, John Walker said: “We are very grateful to the students for their support – to have raised more than £200,000 for TCCL is just phenomenal. The Lodge costs around £25,000 a year to run and so effectively, this support is crucial. It was great to meet the committee and find out more about the Oktoberfest event and the importance of giving something back to the community.”
Pictured outside TCCL Lodge in St Andrews are, from left, TCCL chairperson John Walker and Oktoberfest committee members Luis Wahl, Paula Plechschmidt, Salma Müller-Menrad and Sarah Khneysser.
