A GROUP of Tavistock College students have given shoe boxes of gifts for disadvantaged children to mark their last year of compulsory education.
Last Christmas two members of tutor group 11FX decided they would like to do something special to mark the year, and the Love in a Box charity was selected. The students said it was chosen because the recipients would be young people, each pupil could contribute and feel directly involved, and the project fitted with the college?s international ethos.
Tutor Jane Richardson said support from the wider college and beyond had been wonderful.
?Gifts of all sorts and sizes have been donated and even the ones not directly suitable have been put to very good use. A morning at a car boot sale raised the funds for the petrol money to deliver the presents,? she said.
The group wrapped the boxes and stayed after school to sort the gifts and shop for additional items.
On October 5 the group presented Jill Baird of Mustard Seeds Relief Mission with 35 shoeboxes full of Christmas presents for children in countries such as Croatia, Ukraine and Iraq.
A talk by Mrs Baird and a video of last year?s boxes being delivered offered an insight into the process itself and the reality of life for children in other parts of the world.
RIGHT: The pupils with some of the boxes of gifts.