A tragic teenager’s caring legacy is to help youngsters in some of the poorest parts of the globe.
Last November, the community of Kirriemuir was shattered by the death of popular high school pupil Claire Taylor. Webster’s High School sixth-year pupil Claire took ill just a few weeks before her death from undiagnosed Type 1 diabetes.
The 17-year-old’s family parents Malcolm and Helen and brothers Andrew (19) and Douglas (14) have already used some of the substantial sum donated after Claire’s funeral to help an education programme about the condition which claimed the music and dance enthusiast.
Her grieving family have now also presented £1000 to the international charity Mary’s Meals in recognition of the work done by an organisation which they know Claire would have fully supported.
Having always enjoyed home economics at school and baking at home, Claire became interested in a career as a dietician when her elder brother developed Type 1 diabetes.
She was on her way to fulfilling that ambition through her studies at Webster’s when fate struck its cruel blow.
“Claire was an extremely caring and kind girl. She always tried to support and help people, especially if they were feeling down,” said her parents.
“She was full of fun, loved to laugh and smile, and brought joy to many people.”
The family said they felt Mary’s Meals encompasses the need for education with healthy food and caring and decided to donate £1000 of the fund to the charity.
Mary’s Meals began by feeding 200 children in Malawi and now works in 16 countries feeding more than 600,000 children every day.
The charity provides one daily meal in a place of education in order to attract chronically poor children into the classroom, where they can get an education that may hopefully be their ladder out of poverty.
Running costs are low and 93p of every £1 donated goes to charitable work.
Claire’s sixth-year classmates also have a raft of fundraising ideas in the pipeline for later this month to raise money for Comic Relief, continuing the theme of caring and fun.