When Molly Mathis-Hall found
out families were going hungry over the school holidays, the third-year Northumbria
University student felt compelled to help.
What started as a few
donations to a foodbank in South Tyneside, quickly snowballed into a mass
student effort to ensure food parcels were delivered to struggling families the
length and breadth of the North East.
Molly, who is a third-year
Primary Education student, began her volunteering efforts when she found out
that the Government would not be extending free school meals for children in
England over the October half-term holiday.
“As not only a student
teacher, but as a human being, this news really upset me,” she said. “Families
are struggling more than ever during this Covid-19 pandemic and the decision to
stop providing free school meals to hungry children in the school holidays,
made me realise I had to do something.
“I did a large food shop and
took it to my nearest foodbank. I thought a few other students on my course
might want to do the same, so I sent a message to our year group chat, and I
couldn’t believe how many people responded.
“The word quickly spread and around
100 students on my course, and lecturers, pledged to either donate money to buy
groceries or deliver food parcels themselves to foodbanks across the region.”
Molly set up a JustGiving
fundraising page and used the hundreds of pounds raised to buy groceries for
foodbanks at Hebburn Helps in South Tyneside,
Wansbeck Valley in Northumberland, Pennyman Primary Academy in Middlesbrough,
Cambois Primary School in Northumberland and Loaves and Fishes in Sunderland.
She also recruited an army of
volunteer drivers, made up of students from her course. Jodi Wakefield, Sarah Pritchard, Elliott Leybourne and Julia Chape found
precious time in between studying and their student placements to deliver groceries,
often hundreds of miles apart, to foodbanks across the North East.
The charitable
students also sought the help of the University’s Primary Education Society,
who helped promote their volunteering efforts via social media.
Joanna Hume, Senior Lecturer
in the Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing, praised
Molly and her fellow students for their far-reaching act of kindness, at a time
when many families across the region are struggling to make ends meet.
“Students join our Primary
Education programmes with a genuine desire to make a difference,” she said. “We’ve
been so impressed by the way these students have worked together, freely giving
their time and money to improve the lives of some of our most disadvantaged
local children.”
Northumbria University is a
centre of excellence for initial teacher education and is ranked 9th in
Education in the UK, according to the Guardian University League Tables 2020.
