Annual Food Drive & Staff Fancy Dress
Sue Garlick
/ Categories: General
Over 6000 local children take part in UK Harvest Food Drive
On Friday the 22nd November food donations from 10 local schools was weighed, sorted and handed over to local food rescue charity UKHarvest. Throughout the Autumn term, schools in Bognor and Felpham have been finding out about the charity’s incredible work, where they rescue surplus food and redistribute it to over 100 charities and organisations, and holding their own food drives so they can help UKHarvest provide even more meals, especially in the lead up to Christmas.
The idea of a community food drive came from The Regis School who have held a food drive in November for the last five years. Mrs Saunders, Assistant Principal said:
“We wanted 2019 to be our biggest food drive yet so our student Ambassadors had the idea of contacting the local schools to see who else would like to take part. The response has been amazing with over 6000 local children and 10 schools having the opportunity to make donations. As a Rights Respecting School, we take the right to nutritious food really seriously and it is wonderful to see so many young people supporting this important cause.”
As part of the event, representatives from the 10 schools have been invited to The Regis School to weigh and sort the food ready to load onto UKHarvest vans so it can be delivered into the community. The total amount collected today was 3200kg!
Each week, UKHarvest deliver free food to all the charities they support, reaching over 6,000 people (adults, families and children) who cannot access enough food. They help a large variety of different organisations, ranging from schools, homeless shelters, refuges, foodbanks and more. The donated food will allow UKHarvest to provide much needed extra support for those in need, especially as we approach Christmas.
Stacey Cullen, Director of Operations & Programmes, said:
“We cannot thank The Regis School and all of the participating schools enough for their help, support and generous donations. Every single item of food that has been donated by the children and their families will be redistributed by UKHarvest to people who are food insecure. What wonderful, generous children we have in our community! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You really will make a difference.”
Participating schools
The Regis School
Felpham Community College
Downview
Rose Green Infants
Rose Green Juniors
Southway
Nyewood Juniors
Nyewood Infants
Bishop Tuffnell
South Bersted
What the students had to say:
Megan Bryant-Lawson It was a great day! The quality of the food collected was much more than last year. We were able to join ranks with Felpham Community College and several local Primary schools to show and share the difference UK Harvest are making.
We raised an amazing 3,271KG!
It was a great experience as we were able to watch the journey of our donations and see the change we are making!
Edward Clark We decided to help UK Harvest this year because we thought that the charity deserved support as they distribute over 6,000 meals per week!
It is so important because much of the food given by UK Harvest is reclaimed from a variety of sources and would have otherwise been thrown away, yet the people receiving their help are getting good, nutritious food
Jessica Patterson It was incredibly fun, and I really enjoyed being able to help other people and know that I was putting good out into the world.
I enjoyed seeing Mr Garlick dressed in drag!
It was great seeing so many people working together to ensure a safe future for everyone
Kate Slater It is such a great day to have the opportunity to help my community. The Regis School Food Drive just keeps getting better and better every year!
Julia Witek I think this Food Drive was extremely helpful to the people in need of food for their families