Clarries show they care with love boxes
Pupils donate to needy families
AHEARTBREAKING letter from a former pupil was the catalyst behind a charity initiative at Clarendon Park Primary school. The “Love Boxes” initiative was started at the Walmer school after a former pupil wrote to the deputy headmistress Carol Scheepers asking for help as their family had fallen on hard times and was battling to make ends meet.
Now, nine years later, the Love Box project has grown and needy families with children at the school are the beneficiaries.
The love boxes contain groceries and toiletries donated by pupils.
Founder of the Love Box project, Colleen Chapple, said: “It was very random actually, I was in the current deputy principal’s office one afternoon when she showed me a letter she had received from an ex-pupil who was battling terribly and was asking for some sort of help. “It just affected me so much. “And so the idea to make up hampers and give them to needy families at the school was born.”
Chapple, along with PTA chairwoman Beth Hechter, mother Kate Stone, and Grade 3 teacher Elizabeth Rhodes and a group of mothers now give out grocery parcels every month.
Collections take place once a quarter and the goodies are divided up for the monthly donations.
Rhodes said sensitivity and confidentiality played a key role in the initiative.
She said: “This is a great initiative but at the same time it is a very sensitive one.
“I always mention to the school staff to give me names of people they think could use the help. I’m always worried as I sometimes fear they will slam the phone down in my ear – but generally a lot really appreciate the help.
Stone said: “The support from the kids and the parents has been overwhelming. When the kids see that their tins of jam or baked beans can create this huge mountain of food, they become eager to help.”
The school is involved in a number of charity events including blood donation, “Love Sandwich” projects where sandwiches are donated to a primary school, clinic and creche every Thursday, and a club called Clarries Cares.