A plaque has been presented to Saint John Houghton Catholic Voluntary Academy to formally mark its relationship with a charity that provides clothing to people in crisis.
Saint John Houghton CVA, in Kirk Hallam, was the first school to support Sharewear, which is based in Nottingham, and has now become an official member of the charity’s schools partnership programme.
Louise Cooke, from Sharewear, visited Saint John Houghton CVA and spoke to students during a morning Act of Worship.
She said: “I am delighted to hand over this plaque to mark the beginning of a new formal stage of working together. Saint John Houghton was the first ever school to support Sharewear and we’ve now formed partnerships with other schools.
“You can help us by collecting clothes and shoes or by holding a fundraising event. You can invite us to your open days, we can talk in assemblies and run workshops. We can talk about the eco aspect of recycling clothes and what happens to clothes when they have been put in the bin. We can give volunteering opportunities to older pupils.
“We have a team of volunteers who come from countries all over the world, there are refugees, asylum seekers, teachers who come on their day off and in the school holidays.”
Stephen Brogan, deputy head teacher at Saint John Houghton CVA, thanked Louise for talking to students.
He said: “I think we can be incredibly proud to be the first school that ever worked with Sharewear.
“he charity is such a big thing now and it started in a small church which has about 150 seats.
“It has become an organisation which helped thousands of people last year. This is a remarkable achievement and testament to all of the volunteers.”
Any organisation that would like to become a Sharewear outreach or distribution partner can contact sharewearclothingscheme@gmail.com or call 07724118666. For more information visit the charity’s website www.sharewearclothingscheme.org
