Generous children show the true meaning of Christmas with Santa dash for Sunderland Food Bank

Pupils from all years groups dressed in Santa hats, tinsel and reindeer antlers to take turns in running alongside Santa, AKA teaching assistant Simon Spoors, who was pushing his sleigh full of goodies.

Each year group took a turn in completing the half-mile course, adding their donated items as they ran, which would then be emptied ready for delivery to the food bank.

Simon said: “We do the Santa dash every year, but this year we wanted to make it a bit different by doing something to help the local community. The response from families has been absolutely brilliant.

"There were 10 crates and 20 carrier bags worth of goods and we must have donated nearly 1,000 items of food.”

Headteacher Claire McKinney added: “I’m incredibly proud of the generosity of the children and their families who’ve really shown the true meaning of Christmas at a time when everyone is feeling the pinch.

"We’ve spent time talking to the children about the difficulties people are facing at the moment and as a school we wanted to do something, particularly at this time of year, to help the local community.”

Jamie Robson and Yaseem Ahmed, both nine, were two of the older pupils who helped younger children on the dash.

Jamie said: “It’s important to help others so they can have same things on Christmas Day that we do.”

Yaseem added: “I brought in some pasta and rice. It’s important to help people at this time of year so they can also enjoy Christmas.”

On Monday (December 12) the items, including festive treats, tinned produce, rice, pasta and sauces, were delivered to Sunderland Food Bank.

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Food Bank manager Helen Moss said: “We very much appreciate the tremendous efforts of the staff and pupils at Richard Avenue Primary School. They’ve worked with us on a number of occasions and their contributions will go a long way in providing much needed support for those experiencing food poverty and insecurity this Christmas.

"Without such generous donations from members of the public, our food-banks would not be able to meet the ever increasing needs of the communities in Sunderland.”