Appi Christmas Market 2024

Report by: Leanne Yu (Event Organiser, Appi, Japan)

On Friday the 13th of December 2024, the Hello Trust organized the student led Christmas Market hosted in Harrow Appi. The Hello Trust teams planned the event to take place with three sections, prep students, senior students and the parents of Harrow Appi Students; this event took place on a relaxing morning where students gathered to celebrate an early Christmas in charitable spirits.

There were an assortment of interesting stalls all run by members of the Hello Trust in Harrow Appi, including : The Christmas Card and art stall, drinks stall, baked goods stall, face painting stall, tote bag making, ornament making, bracelet making, DIY stalls, sweets stall, ring toss stall, balloon darts stall and a popcorn and cotton candy stall! We also had raffle tickets with different prices including things like a giant bear plushie, Minecraft lego set, disposable cameras and many different stuffed animals. The students of Harrow Appi all enjoyed the day very much as a final goodbye to the first term of our school year. The atmosphere was merry and lively, with no small credit due to the live band playing Christmas and pop culture hits. Everything ran smoothly within the Hello Trust team too; with setting up, and cleaning up.

In the end, with a full day of running the Christmas Market we have raised 290,707 yen for charity, 50% of which will go to the local orphanage and 50% to Mirai No Mori. The local charities to our school in Japan will help them greatly with providing more opportunity to children in need. Overall, the Christmas Market was a huge success thanks to our team at Hello Trust Appi.