Caring pupils help the vulnerable in Blackburn with winter gift project
Pupils and staff across the family of Star Academies schools in Blackburn including Tauheedul Islam Boys’ High School are supporting the most vulnerable members of their communities by spreading kindness and tackling food poverty through their annual Winter Gift Programme.
A plethora of charitable activities are taking place across the Blackburn schools to support a wide variety of local charities, support groups and those individuals who are most vulnerable in our communities.
At Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School and Sixth Form College, pupils and staff are taking part in many fundraising activities and donating gifts, food and toiletries to a number of local charities. Each year group is supporting a different charity or community organisation. The groups supported include Blackburn Foodbank, Community Spirit, Blackburn Hospital, Springfield and Longfield care homes, NightSafe and The Wish Centre. Pupils also volunteered at the ARC Project centre, which supports asylum seekers and refugees, to serve lunch to the asylum seekers and refugees supported by the project.
At The Olive School, Blackburn, pupils and staff are visiting a nearby residential care home to deliver cards and gift hampers to residents. The school will also be thanking key workers by delivering hampers to Blackburn hospital, police station and fire station.
As part of the school’s Food For All Week initiative – which saw all 30 schools across the Star Academies multi-academy trust distribute thousands of food parcels and meals to those experiencing food poverty – staff and pupils at The Olive School, Blackburn donated items for a local food bank and prepared hundreds of hot meals in the school kitchen for NightSafe and The Salvation Army.
Pupils from Tauheedul Islam Boys’ High School are raising funds and collecting donations for local charities and community groups. Pupils will deliver gifts, hot meals, food parcels and toiletries to a number of local organisations, including Asylum Seekers and Refugee Community (ARC Project), Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise (DARE), The Salvation Army, The Fire Station, local neighbourhood and Spinneyside Care Home. The school kitchen was a hive of activity during Food For All Week as staff, parent volunteers and pupils worked together to prepare, cook, pack and distribute hundreds of nutritious hot meals.
Majid Ditta, Principal at Tauheedul Islam Boys’ High School, said that the school’s winter gift programme had helped pupils to understand the power of kindness and how their actions could help others during times of difficulty. He said:
“We are incredibly fortunate to be part of a very special community of pupils, parents and staff and our whole school benefits from these relationships. Our Winter Gift Programme was a chance for us to really show pupils how their small acts of kindness can help to spread joy to people in need. The initiative provides an opportunity to strengthen our connections in the community and reinforce our position as a school that sits at the very heart of the community it serves.”
The annual Winter Gift Programme is part of a wider programme of giving and thanks that takes place across the 30 schools that are all part of the Star Academies multi-academy trust.
Added By: Star Academies | Date Added: 16th Dec 2021 | Posted In: Latest News