A schoolboy from Clapham was so inspired by the work of his local hospice that he took to the family kitchen to bake over a hundred sweet and savoury treats in a fundraising drive to ‘help the people who help others’.

Impressed on hearing about the work of Royal Trinity Hospice at a school event, seven year old Rohan told his parents he wanted to do something of his own to help the charity. 

The Year 3 Parkgate House School student decided upon a fundraising picnic to welcome new families to the school, cooking up a range of picnic items to create individual party picnic boxes containing chocolate chip cookies, vegetarian rolls, sausage rolls, sandwiches and chocolate cake.

The fundraising picnic was held on Grafton Square, bringing families together with donations given per party picnic box.

Rohan went one step further to make sure that people who couldn’t be there didn’t miss out, hand-delivering boxes to people’s homes as well as his teachers at school.

Initially Rohan had set himself a fundraising target of £500. Thanks to his efforts weighing and whisking, he doubled that, raising over £1,200 for the hospice. 

Mum, Namrata, has been amazed by her son’s endeavours, identifying the personal link between the death of their own family member in India and the work of the hospice caregivers that inspired him:

“Rohan's grandfather passed away four years ago and then his grandmother passed away this year, and we have therefore spent some time discussing end of life care and the importance of hospice care with him in the last few years.

We are incredibly proud of Rohan's hard work, persistence and kindness. Right from planning to host the picnic, writing letters to Royal Trinity Hospice, designing an invitation, to the actual hours spent on his feet baking all day Saturday! We are thankful to the school for encouraging him every step of the way, and to all who donated to his fundraiser.” 

Rohan has said that this won’t be the last time he does this, he is planning to host a second event next year ensuring more people new to his south London community benefit from his care and culinary skills:

“I hope more children do fundraising by making something special or organising an event, and it could be for any charity that they like or believe in. I am also starting to plan next year's fundraising picnic!”

On hearing about Rohan’s efforts, Pamela Emerson, Community Fundraising Manager at Royal Trinity Hospice said: 

“I am completely blown away by Rohan’s awareness of people in his community and his entrepreneurial spirit! It’s wonderful that someone so young is already thinking about how to improve the lives of others. Trinity is a special place for two reasons; the care we are able to provide to people at a very difficult time and the fact we can with the support of our community. If this picnic is anything to go by, Rohan has a great future as a philanthropist ahead of him!”

Royal Trinity Hospice cares for around 2,400 people a year in its inpatient unit on Clapham Common and across the community in a range of settings wherever people call home, supporting them and those they love with specialist support services for free.

People wanting to support Rohan’s fundraising efforts can visit: www.justgiving.com/page/rohan-arias-parkgatehouse or can contact the Royal Trinity Hospice Fundraising team if they want to give fundraising a go themselves, by contacting Pamela Emerson on 020 7787 1000.

Photos: Credit and copyright Arias family handout