Students from Dawlish College packed hundreds of donated items along with a large helping of festive joy into hampers for a local food bank last week.

A group of 20 students gathered on Friday morning (December 12) with the mammoth task of making up eight huge hampers from the sacks of donations collected from the pupils, parents and staff before presenting them to Dawlish Community Larder for distribution to those in need.

Four students from each year group, representing each of the College’s four new houses, packed the hampers, ensuring each contained essential items along with Christmas treats. These included canned goods, dried foods, biscuits, gingerbread, mince pies, Christmas puddings, sweets, treats and small gifts.

Dawlish deputy mayor Lynda Littlewood was asked to judge the best hamper in the College’s first inter-house competition. After much deliberation, the red-themed Dart House hamper was announced as the winner. ‘You can see the thought that has gone into the hampers,’ Lynda commented. ‘They’ve all got the basics, plus a few sweet treats and some other little extras.’

‘Being able to help the community and meet their needs is just amazing,’ said Dart house leader Kyle, who is also a member of the student leadership team.

Dawlish Community Larder said it was very grateful for the donations. The larder, supported by community group Redeeming Our Community (ROC) and Helping Dawlish, supports people in the town in immediate need of basic food and the hampers will be distributed to families and individuals in the town who are struggling over the festive period.

Dawlish College runs an annual food bank appeal to send hampers to the local community via the Community Larder. However, this year’s response has been phenomenal with one parent’s workplace funding a full trolley-load from the local supermarket. ‘Doing this really helps us be a real part of the community and give back to Dawlish,’ said student support lead Karen Hannaford.