Southside pupils learn of vital food bank services
CHILDREN at a Southside primary school have been learning the importance of looking out for those in need this Christmas as they join in with the Glasgow Times Bank on Us appeal.
This year, we are encouraging our readers to get involved with a food drive and have partnered with dozens of food banks across Glasgow and beyond to make sure no- one goes hungry this holiday season.
Pupils at Pollokshields Primary School are no strangers to supporting our festive appeals, but P7 teacher Lewis Pollock says this year’s campaign has helped to provide a valuable lesson in the vital work that local charities do.
He said: “We’ve helped out with the Glasgow Times toy appeal for the last few years and this year when we found out that the paper was collecting different kinds of donations we spoke to the children about the importance of food banks and how we use them.
“I think a lot of children right now can see their parents starting to get a little more stressed about money and maybe wondering why.
“We talked about how it could be any family that is struggling and how it could happen at any time.
“It was an important concept to get through to the children and shows them that support is there in the community and it’s not embarrassing to have to ask for help.”
The children and their parents rose to the challenge and filled an incredible number of bags full of donations ranging from essential household items to festive treats which have been picked up and taken to one of our participating food banks.
Speaking of the end result Mr Pollock said: “We gathered all of the donations in our conference room and made sure that the children hadn’t seen it yet.
“When they walked in, they were amazed to see the amount of food that we had.
“All of our pupils and their parents have been fantastic.
“We look out for our neighbours and help each other in Glasgow and that’s a great thing.
“I hope that if people are able to then they will take part too.”
This week, the Glasgow Times has visited schools across the city to meet with children who have done their bit to help with the Bank on Us appeal. On Wednesday, November 30, identical donation bags were inserted into every copy of the Glasgow Times as this year’s campaign was launched. Readers who are able to donate were asked to fill the bags and hand them into one of our partner food banks.
For more information or for a full list of participating food banks visit our website.
You can also donate towards our toy appeal. Our aim is to ensure no child in Glasgow goes without this Christmas. You can donate at gofund. me/ a76ea31c.