Kind-hearted members of our school community have showcased their festive spirit by donating goods for Christmas hampers to support local families.
Following on from the success of the ‘Happy Top Up Sheds’, Unity Schools Partnership has launched a school-wide appeal asking for donations for the Secret Santa hampers in the run-up to the Christmas holidays.
The hampers will then be delivered to families who have been nominated by local schools.
Lucie Calow, Director of SEND at Unity who has headed the project, said she has been delighted with the response so far.
She explained: “We wanted to do something that not only showed our schools’ festive spirit, but also their community spirit.
“We know families across the country are tackling the cost of living crisis.
“It is still not too late to hand in donations for our Christmas hampers. We ask anyone who has tinned goods, toiletries and even Christmas crackers to give them to their local Unity school before Friday 13th December.”
The Happy Top Up Sheds were launched in schools this year, offering families different forms of support including financial as well as donations of uniform and shopping items.
Lucie said: “We are hugely grateful to have been supported by a number of organisations including the Suffolk Community Foundation, Lady Fatemah Trust and the Port Community Fund in Felixstowe. As a trust, we have raised £18,000 from central funds to support school initiatives across our 32 schools.
“This money is used to support the top up sheds and offer local families vouchers at the discretion of their headteacher. We have also signposted to other partners where help needed was more substantial and long-lasting.”
Alongside the Christmas hampers project, our schools have also been encouraging any unwanted toys to be donated to local charity shops.
Vanessa Whitcombe, headteacher at Castle Manor Academy in Haverhill, said: “Across schools in Haverhill we work closely with Reach and Matilda Rose to support their community campaigns and our families receive excellent support from these organisations. It is really lovely to be able to also produce hampers and offer them to families to bring some extra support at Christmas.”
If anyone would like to donate items for the Christmas hampers or toys for their local charity shop, they can deliver them to their local Unity school by Wednesday 13th December.