Pupils and staffs’ 3,000 tins to help homeless
Generous pupils and staff at Southmoor Academy have collected thousands of tins of food to help ensure homeless people can enjoy a festive meal this Christmas.
A total of 3,000 tins have been collected which have been donated to the Salvation Army’s Austin House in Southwick and St Mary’s Church who will use them to help ensure that homeless people in the area receive a warm Christmas meal.
The collection was coordinated by the Student Council
who also helped to deliver the tins.
The Council said: “We were amazed by the number of tins that were brought into school which shows how kind pupils at our school are.
"We really enjoyed collecting in the huge amounts of donations which will help those in need.”
Tins collected include soups, tinned vegetables, puddings, tomatoes, meat, beans and spaghetti, which as well as being used to provide a festive meal can also be used to provide hundreds of warm meals in the coming winter months.
Headteacher Joanne Maw, said: "We place a very big emphasis on 'kindness through action' here at Southmoor and our Student Council have worked brilliantly as a team to coordinate a huge collection of tins for those in need.
"The students planned the appeal and launched it themselves by leading assemblies with every year group. They then undertook the huge job of counting and collecting the very generous donations from staff, parents, and students.
"We are incredibly proud of their achievements and hope this collection shows our local community how much we care about them."
While the school has been running the tin appeal for a number of years the need to provide support to alleviate food poverty has only been exacerbated by the Covid pandemic with an increasing number of people now facing financial hardship.
Assistant Headteacher Lisa Mellefont said "We are so pleased with the generosity of spirit of our young people, their families and our staff at Southmoor who have given so kindly this year, with some students donating over 100 tins each.
"Whatever charity work Southmoor gets involved in, our school community always goes above and beyond, and this year is no different."