Care homes showered with gifts, thanks to Evie
A SCHOOLGIRL has inspired families to show kindness to those living in care homes nearby by showering them with Christmas gifts.
Evie Watson, an 11-yearold at Leesland C of E Junior School in Gosport, recruited staff, pupils and parents from across the school community to donate items.
Now they are preparing to give Christmas boxes overflowing with more than 600 separate festive donations to elderly residents living in the town.
The project, dubbed the ‘Cheer-full Initiative’, saw school families and staff packing boxes with treats including games, clothes, magazines, chocolate, Christmas crackers and home-made presents. Children also designed their own Nativity booklets.
Donations were packed into 30 separate large boxes before being wrapped in Christmas paper.
The effort means those living in care homes will be able to unwrap the boxes on or before Christmas Day.
Associate headteacher Anne Wake said: ‘We normally go and sing in local care homes at Christmas, but we can’t do that this year due to Covid.
‘Evie has driven this project forward from the start. She created a Powerpoint which was played to every class in the school as part of their collective worship, designed a flyer and has given a lot of her own time to decorate and organise the boxes with help from her friends.
‘We thought we might get two or three boxes, but we were inundated with wonderful gifts from so many of our families. One artist donated a painting she painted herself, and there have been many other lovely things. It fits in with our school values of love, grace and respect.’
She added: ‘The local community here are amazing. They always donate generously at Harvest, and have done so again, even though I’m sure that some of them appreciate being in need.
‘Evie is a delightful student and epitomises our school values. She’s already made a significant contribution to the school community and has been very proactive in wanting to support others.’
The Christmas treats will be delivered to the care homes in a Covid-safe way, allowing them to rest in quarantine to ensure there is no transmission of the virus.