Coleraine’s caring college

As part of their Prince’s Trust course, students in 11GO raised funds to create 15 Christmas hampers which will be donated to local families.

Mrs Sloane, course co-ordinator, explained: “Students had to identify, design and deliver a project as part of their Prince’s Trust curriculum. In the context of Covid-19, we needed to come upwith something a little different to what we usually do, so students decided to raise funds for food hampers to support those in need at Christmas time.”

She continued: “Consequently, they approached teaching staff at the College for a donation to enable them to purchase food stuffs and they raised more than £300 which allowed us to create hampers containing more than 25 items of food.”

Another initiative saw the College link in with the Causeway Foodbank at Vineyard Compassion. The entire College community was asked to donate a specific food item on a given day over the course of a week.

As a result, more than 550 tonnes of foodstuffs worth almost £1,000 was collected in just five days.

Principal, Mr Marsh, stated: “This initiative was really driven by the fact that Covid-19 has caused a lot of hardship and uncertainty for many people in Coleraine and right across the world. We wanted to do something to address that and also recognise that the Vineyard has been very supportive of the College and the wider community.

“We are very proud but not surprised by the way in which all concerned at the College responded. Right across the board - from teaching staff, to students and their parents, to our auxiliary staff – they all donated with great generosity and kindness. This is a College which teaches the importance of not only thinking about others but actively helping them. In this case, they have done exactly that.”