A WARRINGTON student who has dedicated her life to raising money for charity after battling her own health issues as a child has been named a winner for her commitment to volunteering.
Kirsty Ashton, 20, who studied at the University of Chester’s Warrington campus, overcame her own health issues to raise more than £85,000 for charity.
She has won the Regional v Spirit Award for her all round commitment to volunteering. Kirsty was selected out of 700 nominations as one of the 72 regional winners.
She will find out if she has been shortlisted as a national winner in the New Year.
Kirsty has spent a huge amount of time fundraising for the ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’ charity which raises money to grant the wishes of children across the country with a life-threatening condition. Kirsty was inspired to help when she was affected by an illness at a very young age and was given the opportunity to visit Lapland.
She has managed to raise enough to send over 100 very poorly children on the same magical trip to Lapland. She has used her creative flair to develop a contact list with many high profile celebrities and businesses, set up a website and wrote her own book Kirsty’s Story Living with Neurofibromatosis and Scoliosis.
Kirsty said: “I’m delighted to be recognised. I’ve been raising money for the charity since I was nine-years-old. I used to try and sell my toys that I just had from Santa for that Christmas!
“I carried on as I got older doing things like car boot sales and cake bakes. I then started getting the backing of big companies and began organising fundraising nights, everything from a Valentine’s Ball to 1940s theme nights.”
Kirsty plans to continue her fundraising with the launch of her website www.kirstysstory.co.uk and further events in the future.
Claire Britton, the University of Chester’s Volunteer Co-ordinator, said: “The University of Chester is committed to volunteering and this is the second year on the run that one of our students has performed well in the v awards. We wish Kirsty every success.”
Picture: Kirsty Ashton with former X Factor contestants Eton Road.
Kirsty is a winner
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About Author
Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
