WE ♥ CHARITY!

Welcome to the website of The University of St Andrews Charities Campaign. We are a merry band of terminally underworked students fighting to end poverty, disease and hunger whilst laughing, cursing and consuming caffeine and alcohol in frightening quantities. We're so legit we even have a mascot, Rory McLion. You'll probably recognise him, because he's a lion.

This ragtag bunch of hungover students scraped together over £90,000 last year! (they even gave it away to a diverse line-up of charities. Let's investigate.

Activities of the Campaign

Our historic mainstays are street collections - a day out in a major city accompanied by bucket shaking and shameless flirting which usually returns a fabulous amount of money - and the deliciously scandalous 'alternative' beauty pageants; Mr St Andrews, which heralds the return to Venue 1 of whipped cream, bare flesh, and generally dubious morality.But what's tradition without a little evolution?

Mr St Andrews (after years of sordid development) is now the jewel in the crown of RAG Week, a festival of philanthropy, which this year saw a Jungle Bop, Catwalk Fashion Show, Silent Rave, Comedy Night (featuring the Amateur Transplants!), Bingo and St Andrews' Got Talent. For more information, visit www.ragweek.org.uk

Traditions in the making

If the traditions you've got aren't enough, best invent some more. Race 2 Paris 2006 marked a brave new dawn for the Charities Campaign as 59 students made it to Paris for free. Race 2 Paris 2007 marked a new high of caffeine intake as 174 students performed the same feat and somehow netted over £15,500 along the way. 2008 saw new and exciting ground being broken with Race 2 Amsterdam. We've heard stories - some of which are true - involving tactical visits to Belgium, nudity, police, street racing, Polish lorry drivers, Biffy Clyro gigs, surfers, overnight ferries to Amsterdam and something about the Managing Director of P&O Ferries.

This academic year, 2011-12, we're branching into new territory and will be bringing you three hitch-hikes: Race2Barcelona in January, followed by a 'Lost'-style Race4RAG in February and a Jailbreak over Spring Break. We're also launching a brand new branch of the campaign under the name of 'Challenge', set to bring you abseils, sky-dives, marathons and a yet-to-be-revealed huge summer expedition, so keep your eyes peeled! As well as Race2, RAG Week and Challenge, the Charities Campaign will be bringing you dozens and dozens of events and fundraisers over the entire academic year, so keep checking our pages here, add Rory McLion as a friend on facebook and join our mailing list by emailing charities@st-andrews.ac.uk to for news on our upcoming events and volunteer opportunities.