Fundraiser Jess aims to help keep hearts beating
Former Bede Sixth Form College student Jess is flying high after moving a step closer to her ambition of becoming an aeronautical engineer.
The 18-year-old’s head was quite literally in the clouds after picking up the grades she needed from the college in Billingham to secure her place on a HNC in Aeronautical Engineering through Teesside University.
Achieving an all-important distinction star in engineering, along with A levels in history and physics, she marked the occasion just days later with a 14.000 ft charity skydive.
“It went really well and I even got to control the parachute and go through the clouds,” says Jess, who was raising essential funds for the CPAD Ingleby Barwick (IB) Fund.
As an aspiring young aeronautical engineer and air cadet you might think she would prefer to stay on board the plane, but this was the second skydiving money spinner Jess has made for the life-saving organisation launched by her mum, Deborah Gale.
In their family it is just the sort of thing they do to raise vital funds to help keep the not-for-profit organisation in good health and ultimately keep hearts beating.
The CPAD IB Fund has installed 90 defibrillators across Teesside which have been deployed over 400 times.
The team also delivers CPR and restart your heart training to ensure as many people as possible feel confident enough to respond, should the worst happen – a service they have delivered to students at Bede Sixth Form.
A team of volunteers regularly raise funds, organise and run events and check and maintain the defibrillators to keep them in working order. Jess is one of them.
Passionate about volunteering, particularly for small charities and organisations, and a qualified basic first aid trainer herself, she said: “It takes constant fundraising, not only to buy the defibrillators but also for their upkeep, the cabinets and replacement pads.
“Small charities and organisations are so important in our communities and none of it would happen without volunteers.”
Joined by three friends on the jump, together they raised over £1600. The funds raised will now go towards buying an outdoor cabinet for one of the current defibrillators so that more people can access it in an emergency.
Determined to do all she can to help support the cause, along with her younger sister and dad, Jess said: “My mum has been a big influence, it is insane how many people she has helped.”
She is quick to add that they, of course, couldn’t do any of it without the dedication and commitment of the full CPAD IB Fund team, their amazing volunteers, fundraisers, and all those who generously give what they can.
