Sidcot students help fund food bank van

Sidcot School students fundraise for food bank in Weston-super-Mare

As more people become dependent on food banks, students at a Quaker private school have raised money to help to fund one of them. Sidcot School usually raises money to tackle poverty overseas, but rising poverty in Britain prompted students to help out local people.

The school has raised £300 towards the cost of the new food van in nearby Weston-super-Mare. They also collected tinned foods for donations. The money was raised through an event at which around 400 students swapped a three-course meal for bread and soup.

Some estimates put the number of food bank users at six times the figure in 2010, following increases in poverty, homelessness and unemployment in the face of government cuts.

Weston Foodbank manager Ian Fraser said: ‘We’ve just had a van donated to us but we were unable to use it as we had no spare money to cover tax and insurance. The money donated by Sidcot School was perfectly timed.’ The food bank is run by the Trussell Trust.

‘We wanted to help local people struggling to feed themselves and their families,’ said Sidcot teacher Charlotte House. ‘The students are eager to consider the needs of others – their generosity of spirit is closely linked with our Quaker values’.

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