Donations
A huge thank-you to New Bridge School
Young people from New Bridge School in Hollinwood, Oldham donated the food collected at its harvest festival to The Big Issue in the North’s vendors.
Students aged 11-16 at the school collected a range of produce, particularly tinned food like baked beans and soup for convenience, and delivered it to the Manchester offices of The Big Issue in the North, where they met some of the magazine’s vendors.
The school, which educates young people with moderate to complex learning needs, runs a festival each year to develop understanding of the harvest and raise awareness of people less fortunate than the students. Parents and carers helped the students collect as many tins as possible.
According to Daniel Wood, New Bridge School’s community development manager, the students were interested to learn how The Big Issue in the North works, with vendors buying the magazine for £1 and selling it on for £2. For many, that is the only income they receive.
“As an organisation we fully support the ethos of The Big Issue in the North and it supports both our work on harvest and our work on enterprise and encouraging our young people to be young entrepreneurs of the future,” said Wood. “Many of our young people were fascinated by the idea of buying a product for a reduced price to sell it on at a higher price for a profit. “Obviously we are also keen to do what we can to help the homeless people within our region.
“We asked all of our young people to support the campaign in a full school assembly. This was supported by a letter home to parents and carers. From this the donations flooded in.”
Wood and year eight pupils brought in the food.
“The vendors were extremely kind and helpful and were able to answer all of our questions and gave us a good overview of how the The Big Issue in the North worked,” he said.
John Badejo, Manchester co-ordinator of The Big Issue in the North, said: “On behalf of the vendors and the rest of the team, I’d like to say how grateful we are to everyone at New Bridge School for the donations.”
Kevin Gopal