Students at Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise Academy have donated dozens of items of food to a project which supports vulnerable people on their own at Christmas.
The food that was collected has been handed over to Operation Ilkestonian and was used for the project’s Christmas party in Cotmanhay.
The academy has been supporting Operation Ilkestonian, run by Community Concern Erewash, for 13 years.
Sally Castle, Technology teacher at OIEA, organises the collection every year.
She said: “Our regular contributions make a massive difference to this worthwhile cause. We can honestly say that our school makes a positive difference in our community. Once the students finished sorting out all of the donations, they were collected and taken, ready to be cooked by the volunteers. This ongoing charitable act genuinely makes a difference to countless local people and genuinely deserves all the support that the academy provides.”
As well as the Christmas lunch, Community Concern Erewash supports vulnerable people in the borough throughout the year by carrying out home maintenance, a laundry service, social gatherings and a twice weekly OAP lunch club.
Elaine Scogings, from Community Concern Erewash, thanked OIEA students for their support.
She said: “We had around 25 people at our Christmas lunch and we sent 30 dinners out so we would like to thank staff and students at Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise Academy for helping us to make this possible.
“When we have food left over we make small hampers together for the people who we help and we can keep any dry goods to use at our lunch club which we run twice a week.
“We also offer a laundry service and a one-to-one befriending service so we would love to hear from anyone who would be interested in volunteering.”
Anyone who would like to donate, volunteer, or find out more information about Operation Ilkestonian can call Community Concern Erewash on 0115 9444146 or visit www.communityconcernerewash.co.uk