Students show support for the city's homeless

Organised by the RE department at St Paul’s Catholic School, the inventive fundraising activity kept pupils busy in the weeks before the seasonal break, while enabling them to help homeless people in our community.

Each form room displayed a reverse Advent calendar showing a list of items that pupils could sign up for and bring into school to create shoeboxes full of treats to give to homeless people.

Items on the list included shoeboxes, essential toiletries, clothing, treats and Christmas cards to write a message to the person who would receive the box.

Pupils could opt to donate a single item or even complete a whole shoebox themselves.

Laura Maw, Head of RE, said: “With the number of homeless people in Milton Keynes increasing by 500% since 2012 we know that the help we can provide is needed now more than ever. Thinking about this during the Advent season has helped pupils to remember the meaning of Advent and allow us all to live out our school motto of loving and serving others.”

In total, 110 shoeboxes were created at the school, all wrapped and filled by Sixth Form students.

These shoeboxes have been donated to Help Our Homeless MK, a group of volunteers who have been supporting the homeless community since 2014.

Help Our Homeless MK hold evening Soup Runs and give out clothing, toiletries, bedding and tents to the homeless. They also have a shop unit on the Lakes Estate where they store stock and are able to sell some donated items.

Follow Help Our Homeless MK on Twitter @HoH_MK to learn more.