A CUMBRIAN teenager, who last year raised over £250,000 for Ukrainian children, has launched a second fundraiser for the charity Save the Children.
Gabriel Clark, 13, shot to viral fame last April after a quarter of a million people responded to a plea from his dad for people to follow his son’s woodwork Instagram account.
Spurred on by support from a raft of celebrities, including Stephen Fry and JK Rowling, Gabriel decided to put his newfound fame to good use and raffled off his Bowl for Ukraine to raise funds for Save the Children.
Now, a year later, the young woodwork star has visited a Ukrainian school in Warsaw funded by the charity, to learn more about the impact of his fundraising.
The school supports over 450 children from Ukraine aged 6-17 to study the Ukrainian curriculum in their native language, while providing Polish language lessons and helping children integrate into Poland.
READ MORE: 'Blown away' - Woodwork star raises more than £250k for families in Ukraine
Following his visit, Gabriel announced he would be carving a new bowl, called The Hope bowl, with the aim of raising funds for the charity’s Emergency Fund, which supports children in crisis all around the world.
"Being at the school in Poland and seeing how much the funds raised last year have helped the Ukrainian children there, I just knew I had to do another fundraiser.
"The children at the school were so happy and welcoming to me and they had so many fun games to play. I wish my school was more like it! Meeting the children there was amazing, but also devastating. We had so much in common, but our circumstances are so different.
"I spoke to one ten-year-old boy who plays the drums, like I do, and he also does Taekwondo, which I love. It amazed me because it’s such an unusual sport. It just reminded me that these children are just like any other child, but they’ve been through so much. If there’s any way of helping them and other children who need it, then I think we all should," Gabriel said.
The draw for Gabriel’s Hope Bowl will close on Friday April 14.
To read more about Gabriel’s Hope bowl and support his fundraising, visit www.justgiving.com/page/thehopebowl or follow his journey on Instagram.
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