OUR BIG FAMILY HELPS ONE BIG FAMILY

24.11.2023

HNC has revealed that in the run up to Christmas our College will be working together to make a difference to our community by putting together care packages and collecting new toys which will go to directly to homeless and vulnerably-house people and families in the local area.

Our Student Council voted to run a whole College festive collection, and as a result we will be working with One Big Family, a small local charity working directly with homeless and vulnerably-housed people in Kirklees and the surrounding areas. As part of our Mo’vember activities, next week our students will be exploring how we can protect our mental health. This will include discussing how kindness and gratitude for the positives in our lives forms a key part of good mental wellbeing and our drive will be launched to coincide with this.

We’ll be kicking off our festive appeal with a wrapping session in the Junction during the course of Tuesday lunch, where our Student Wellbeing team and Student Council will be wrapping empty shoe boxes ready to be filled with donations. This will present an opportunity for conversations about how kindness is the gift that gives twice, making ourselves and others feel good. Students will also be able to leave a message about what they are grateful for this year on one of our festive baubles which will be hung on our tree.

The team will also accepting initial donations, including for new toys, which will be distributed by One Big Family to children who may not otherwise receive a gift this year. We will however be collecting donations from Tuesday until Friday 8 December, which can be left at our collection point in Reception.

Catherine Cushnie, Assistant Principal comments: “We are incredibly proud of how generous and considerate our College community is, and how our young people show empathy for those undergoing a challenging time. As a community, we will be working together to make what we hope will be a big difference this festive season. We know that this festive drive will spark some important discussions about gratitude, and how the smallest act of kindness has a ripple effect. While it is saddening how One Big Family has shared with us that they are currently supporting an unprecedented number of homeless and vulnerably housed people, as a College we are really looking forward to working together to ensure this amazing charity can make the festive season a little brighter for the people it supports.”

A list of items we will be collecting can be found below. If any local organisations wish to support our collection, please email news@huddnewcoll.ac.uk