In order to be able to afford the food for the shelter, we decided a good way to raise money would be to have a cake sale. After the weekend, everybody who went home either made or bought cakes that were then sold at the cake sale on Monday morning. Overall, £96 was made, mainly from the cakes themselves, but also from generous donations from students and staff which also helped to bring up the amount of money we then had to spend on food. After school on Wednesday, Mrs de Ferrer drove us to a local supermarket where we went shopping and bought enough products which we then went on to make into packed meals which included:
- Two sandwiches (ham and cheese)
- A mini roll/cake
- Carton of juice
- Two pieces of fruit (apple, banana or orange)
We then drove back to school and unpacked everything, and then Jemima, Georgie, Cece and I made sandwiches. We made sure each of the 25 bags had all of the products above included in them and we each had our own jobs and responsibilities in the process of completion. Later on, we drove to the homeless shelter and had time beforehand to meet the people who were helping out at the shelter and we had time to lay out the food bags and organise where they were going to go.
A few minutes later the guests arrived and put down all of their bags and mats which they were going to sleep on later that day. They introduced themselves and shook our hands and were very polite. We then went on to play card and board games with them and Jemima and I managed to learn a new Polish card game which was a bit confusing but we finally managed to get to grips with it! Cece and Georgie played a board game and we also talked to the guests and they happily told us about how they had become homeless and about their families.
Overall, it was a really good experience and we were not willing to leave at the end of it as we all wanted to stay for longer as it went so quickly – or even go back another time. We all found it really interesting, especially learning about other people and their stories, realising that they were very welcoming and friendly people who all seemed to start off with usual lives just like everybody else. I am very grateful for the opportunity to go and would be very happy to help out again.
Anoushka, Form IV pupil