Jamie wins top award for his charity work

A TYRONE teen who raised more than £10,000 for charity by creating a calendar filled with a positive quote for every day of the year has received the highest accolade a young person can achieve for social action or humanitarian efforts.

Jamie Harkin (18), who was head boy at Drumragh Integrated College in Omagh, was inspired to put together the ‘366 Pockets of Positivity’ calendar in memory of his late English teacher, Graham Peters, who died from cancer in 2017.

Sales of the special calendar were recorded in more than 40 different countries across the world, eventually raising more than £10,000 for local charity, Care for Cancer.

For his outstanding efforts, Jamie has been honoured with The Diana Award for going above and beyond in his daily life to create and sustain positive change.

Established in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, the award is given out by the charity of the same name and has the support of both her sons, The Duke of Cambridge and The Duke of Sussex.

Jamie said he had created the calendar as a unique tribute to a man who had been such a huge part of his life at school.

“Mr Peters was a huge lover of quotes. His classroom walls were adorned with quotes from Disney, Toy Story, Roald Dahl and everything inbetween. If there was a new quote someone brought to Mr Peters or that he found himself, he would always find room on one of the four walls somewhere.

“I felt that Mr Peters’ positive influence on us all would be best reflected in a calendar, which has a quote – a positive thought – for every single day,” the teenager said.

Jamie volunteered at the Care for Cancer office while studying for his A-Levels, undertaking more than 200 hours of service for the charity. He is also a strong advocate for the Northern Ireland integrated education movement through various community initiatives.

Tessy Ojo, The Diana Award chief executive, said, “We congratulate all our new Diana Award recipients who are changemakers for their generation.

“We know by receiving this honour they will inspire more young people to get involved in their communities and begin their own journey as active citizens.”

FUNDRAISING
Meanwhile, a JustGiving campaign was  launched last week to raise the funds necessary to construct an inspiration garden in memory of Mr Peters. To donate via the JustGiving link https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/a-garden-for-graham visit the Drumragh College Facebook page.