Generous children donate hundreds of items to help tackle food poverty in Sunderland

Kind-hearted children from Castletown Primary School have donated hundreds of items to the Salvation Army to support people in the city struggling with food poverty.

Pupils at the school have been learning about food poverty and hosted a Food for Thought Day on Thursday October 5, when children were asked to bring in one food item to donate to the charity.

Despite still being in the grips of the cost of living crisis, children and parents were "amazingly generous" in their donations with may pupils bringing in bags of food which totalled hundreds of items and filled more than 24 boxes.

Headteacher Lee Duncan said: "Sadly with the cost of living crisis, the need for food support now appears to be greater than ever and I'm incredibly proud of the amount of food we are able to donate to the Salvation Army.

"It always amazes me how generous our pupils and families are when raising donations for charitable causes.

"Despite ongoing pressures associated with the cost of living, our Castletown school family has once again shown their kindness and generosity."

The food has been donated to the Salvation Army at Austin House Family Centre in Southwick and will now be distributed to families in need across the city.

Items donated included pasta, rice, tinned produce, noodles, cereals, biscuits, sauces and other non perishable goods.

Community manager Graham Wharton, who was collecting the food today (October 10), was particularly impressed with the children's efforts.

He said: "I'm privileged to go into schools to collect donations and it's fabulous to see this level of support from young people in the community.

"Donations like this can have a massive impact on people in need."

The donations will provide food parcels for people referred for help from organisations such as Age UK and Sunderland City Council.

Graham added: "With the cost of living and the cost of food there's currently a big demand with an increasing number of referrals.

"With winter approaching and the continued high cost of fuel, for many people it will once again be a choice of heating or eating.

"Most people are only one lost pay packet away from needing support."

Helping to load up Graham's van were head and deputy boys, Jack Mitchell and Niall Kerry, and head and deputy girls, Daisy Ferguson and Evie Lynne.

Daisy, 10. said: "I'm really proud of how many items we have brought in. It's really important to help people suffering from food poverty in the local community."

Niall, 10, said: "I was really keen to help out as the cost of food is a big issue for people at the moment. It makes me feel happy to be helping people in need."

Jack, 10, added: "I brought in some tins of soup and spaghetti. Hopefully this will help people as the cost of food is a problem at the moment.

"It feels really good to hand the food over to the Salvation Army."