Forres Academy fills 38 shoeboxes with gifts to be sent to Ukraine by Stella’s Voice charity
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A local school community has filled nearly 40 boxes with gifts for charity.
Forres Academy students, staff and families were asked by Ukraine shoebox appeal organiser and Lossiemouth Community Council chairwoman, Carolle Ralph, to fill one box on behalf of an international charity helping orphans in Ukraine.
She said: “We’re collecting for the Peterhead Stella’s Voice charity shop. We approached all of the Moray schools, as well as local groups and organisations. We asked them to fill a shoebox each but everyone’s been so keen we’ve since been inundated with them! We are really grateful to the kids, staff and parents at Forres Academy, indeed it’s been a tremendous effort from Moray’s community!”
Academy teacher and fundraising committee organiser, Catriona Maclean, appealed for empty shoeboxes and small donations for children and adults. The appeal ran for a month, during which time pupils made individual best wishes cards for each box to say where they came from.
Ms Maclean said: “Each box was wrapped in Christmas paper and filled with gifts appropriate to the age of the recipients. Gifts were a range of clothing items, sweets, stationary items, toys, games and other suitable small items. We filled 38 in total!”
Students from S3-S6 geography helped make the cards, wrap the boxes, sort the donations and box them up.
“The pupils were all very helpful,” said Ms Maclean. “They worked together to get the job done in a matter of days.
“Despite the cost-of-living crisis, we are very impressed and grateful for the sheer number of donations and the generosity of the community in Forres.
“The school aims to offer a fundraising event once every term doing something for local communities alongside those further afield who need our help and support.”
