Season of Giving
The chocolate advent calendar is a modern tradition at Christmas, but with the cost-of-living crisis, families are finding it harder to afford such luxuries. After hearing about this in their form time, a group of students from Year 10 Cader House chose to do something about it.
On Wednesday the 30th of November the group delivered an amazing 155 advent calendars and around 10 other chocolate selection boxes to Hope Restored food bank in West Shore, Llandudno. The donation included around 4000 individual chocolates! The students have donated advent calendars themselves, appealed to staff and students in the rest of the school and received a very generous donation from Thornley Leisure Parks.
The pupils were met at the food bank by Reverend Mark Young who told them “What makes a difference is that the children are not just getting the basics, they're getting the pleasure of having an advent calendar at Christmas like any other child”.
Volunteers at the food bank explained “most of the families that used the food bank are working parents who cannot afford pay their bills and also buy food at the moment, these small things make a real difference around Christmas time”.
The tour of food bank had quite the impact on the pupils, “seeing just how much food is needed to help people in Llandudno was overwhelming” observed Elowyn. “I never realised how many people need help” said William “it’s not just homeless people or people on benefits, but also hard-working families”. “It never occurred to me that that tinned meat was so important now energy costs are rising so high and cooking in an oven is expensive, it was really eye opening” reflected Olivia.
Hope Restored Food Bank is entirely dependent on donations, there are donation points at Asda Llandudno, TK Maxx Llandudno and Co-Op in Craig Y Don.
