Caring students at Mere Green Primary School have got into the Christmas spirit – by donating hundreds of items to less fortunate people this festive season.
On Thursday, December 19 volunteers from Hope Food North Birmingham arrived to collect a mountain of food from the school, which is part of the respected Arthur Terry Learning Trust.
And youngsters were on hand to help load it up too.
Ella Ground, 11, said: “It was great fun to take part in the food collection, and it made me feel really nice doing some charity work.”
Ava Maou, 11, said: “I brought in some beans and some toiletries. It’s nice to think that people will be using the things that I brought in.”
Sebastian Jinks, 10, said: “It’s important to help people at Christmas because people who are less fortunate might not get the opportunity to buy presents, or might not have enough food.”
And Anson Lo, 10, said: “We collected beans the most, everybody seemed to bring beans! But there were some nice things too, like mince pies and chocolate.”
Hope Food North Birmingham is based at Streetly Methodist Church, but originally formed at St James Church, just down the road from Mere Green Primary School.
The volunteer-led group runs weekly food banks in Mere Green, Falcon Lodge and Erdington.
Volunteer Ann McKeown said: “It’s lovely to see children involved in something like this and we are so grateful for the donation.
“Charity really does begin in your own community, and we are an organisation run entirely by volunteers, operating from 6.30 in the morning to 10pm at night – and we simply wouldn’t be able to manage without donations like this.”
Assistant Headteacher at Mere Green Primary, Ross Newton, said: “We started collecting items at the start of December, and have been blown away by the response.
“The children and the community were informed of the project and the kind of things we wanted to collect, and they’ve really pulled together with hundreds of items being donated.
“It’s lovely to see that spirit of Christmas come through with the children and the families, giving what they can to support others.
“The children have taken complete ownership of this – every morning they have been armed and ready with their bags and boxes and have gone round to every single classroom, collecting donations and sorting them into categories.
“It’s been a child-led project, and it’s been wonderful to see how they have embraced it.”