Jailbreak students have gone more than 500 miles – and hope to raise £500 more for RAG

By Amy Slack, Features Editor

Two QUB students have escaped Belfast this weekend in the hope of raising more than £500 for this year’s RAG charities.

First year Emma-Jane Faulkner and final year James Rodgers are currently taking part in a ‘jailbreak’ – a sponsored attempt to get as far away as possible from the Students’ Union within 37 hours without spending a penny of their own funds.

The pair en-route to Germany

So far, they’ve hitchhiked to Dublin, been sponsored a free flight to Gatwick, received free coach travel from National Express to London and a free journey to France sponsored by EuroTunnel. They have now reached Cologne, Germany, and still have three hours to go before their time is up at midnight tonight.

The two Geography students have been receiving donations through TxtGiving and JustGiving, and are now just over £50 away from their £500 target. Other donors have offered to pay a penny for every mile they travel. So far, they’ve managed over 1,000 miles on their journey.

All online donations will go to Leukemia & Lymphoma NI, one of this year’s RAG charities and the only charity that solely researches blood cancer in Northern Ireland. The other three RAG charities – Aware Defeat Depression, SOS Bus NI & Autism NI – will benefit from any offline donations received.

Speaking a few hours ago, James said “We are so excited that we have managed to get over 500 miles away from QUB already, while promoting these wonderful charities at the same time. The response on facebook, twitter and JustGiving has been unbelievable and is keeping us going as we head further into Europe”.

If you would like to follow Emma-Jane’s and James’ progress, you can follow their official Facebook page here. You can also donate by visiting their JustGiving page, or text QRAG99 £(donation) to 70070.