Grant will help children with additional support needs

Big-hearted pupils at St Margaret’s High secured a £4000 grant for their chosen charity through a new programme aiming to help communities tackle the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Students at the Airdrie school earned the bumper cheque for North Lanarkshire charity Jack and Jill, which supports children with additional support needs and their families, by making a successful submission to the Wood Foundation.

They created a digital presentation to the organisation’s recently-launched Your Community Fund to put the case for their chosen good cause.

It was an adapted version of the Wood Foundation’s existing youth and philanthropy initiative (YPI), which the Airdrie school has participated in for the past three years and earned donations for Salsburgh-based Ponies Help Children, North Lanarkshire stroke survivors’group and fellow local charity

Families and Friends Affected by Murder and Suicide.

This year’s submission from the St Margaret’s pupils was one of 50 to be selected as winners, with the Wood Foundation now sending grants totalling £200,000 to various good causes and coronavirus responses championed by young people across Scotland.

Its chair, Sir Ian Wood, said:“It’s clear the young people have really enjoyed the role they can play to help the world outside their front door while they’ve had to remain at home.

“Many of the submissions were really very impressive. It was great to see how much young people cared about their causes, the different ways they told the charities’stories and the difference the money would make to them.”

He added:“Your Community Fund had to be put together very quickly to support the disruption to our YPI programme in a large number of schools, and I congratulate The Wood Foundation staff on the great work they’ve done.”

Jonathan Christie, the Foundation’s deputy UK director, added:“Our close partnerships with schools have been key in the success of securing these submissions – and because of these efforts, funds can now be granted to organisations that young people passionately believe need it most.”