Students urged to give up social media for a day and help those less fortunate

Many of us associate Lent with giving something up so as part of this year’s Lenten campaign we are asking post-primary students to give up something for Lent that may prove easy for some but incredibly difficult for others – social media.

The ‘Sign Up Sign Out Challenge’ takes place in the month of March, and we are hoping that school students, who are old enough to have social media accounts, will stay away from them for one day only. During the time they are offline we are hoping they will seek sponsorship or organise fundraising events to raise money for Trócaire.
 
It’s a light-hearted way of getting across a very serious message. The break away from the ever-present Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram will hopefully give students the opportunity to reflect on life outside the digital world. In the real world children just like them in the developing world face huge challenges.

Kumba, the little girl on this year’s Trócaire Box, is only seven years old but has already survived an Ebola outbreak that killed 4,000 in Sierra Leone and a landslide that killed 1,000 of her neighbours.
 
All over the developing world there are millions of children who are unable to attend school because their parents need them to help search for food or they can’t afford books and fees or they have had to flee their homes because of conflict.

It’s children like this that Trócaire will help in the coming year through support for the Lenten campaign. We receive incredible support from schools all over Ireland and we have no doubt that students will do their bit once again for children in dire need overseas.

To find out more about the challenge or to sign up visit www.trocaire.org/signupsignout

Our students will be taking part in the @trocaire ‘Sign Up Sign Out’ of social media fundraising campaign on Wednesday 7th March. Please support! #signupsignout pic.twitter.com/nEYcJnZO5B

— Pres College Athenry (@PresAthenry) February 27, 2018