Every morning in December, millions of children around the world eagerly look forward to ripping open that day’s advent calendar door and eating the treat behind it.
But this year, two Aberdeenshire schoolchildren decided to miss out.
Instead of eating a treat, they would put aside a piece of food in a collection basket for their local foodbank.
Primary 7 student Elle Baxter and P3 pupil Freya McCormack, both of Crombie Primary School in Westhill, decided to do the project to help struggling families over Christmas.
This “reverse advent calendar” project worked by them collecting food donations from friends and family to help build their collection hamper.
Reindeer food sales adds to total
The girls also held a fundraiser where they made up 100 tubes of reindeer food and sold them, making £200.
This money bought a range of goods, allowing the girls to donate over 400 items of food, drinks and toiletries.
They also collected and donated 80 small gifts for children, just in case Santa didn’t make it to them this Christmas.
Elle and Freya were “delighted and thankful” to everyone that helped them make an impact on so many families in the community.
After collecting the mass of goodies, they donated it to the Westhill Community Church food bank.
The Big Christmas Food Appeal
As part of the Big Christmas Food Appeal, the Press and Journal and Evening Express have been working to highlight the work of foodbanks like Silver City Church.
We’ve also launched some drop-off points for donations across Aberdeen, Inverness and Elgin or there’s a JustGiving page donations can be made to.
We have been reporting on the cost-of-living crisis and breaking down the stigma around foodbanks, while making sure those in our communities know where to get help when they need.
If you know of any initiatives going on in your community that we have not covered please let us know at livenews@ajl.co.uk