CHRISTMAS 2016: School in a Bag team bowled over by festive goodwill

ORGANISERS of the Somerset-based School in a Bag charity have been left amazed at the generosity of local people in the build-up to Christmas.

School in a Bag, which is based at Chilthorne Domer, near Yeovil, provides SchoolBags packed with everyday school essentials to disadvantaged children around the globe.

A marathon 18-hour Big Supermarket Bag Pack was held on Friday (December 23, 2016) from 6am to midnight at the main Tesco store in Yeovil and an army of volunteers came along to help the School in a Bag team.

The charity has also had a pop-up shop in the Quedam Shopping Centre in Yeovil for the past few weeks where people have been able to buy and pack SchoolBags.

The two events have been amazing successes and have funded more than 750 SchoolBags between them which will bring hope and smiles to children around the globe.

Charity founder and chief executive Luke Simon said: “The bag pack at Tesco was one of those days when you realise we do live in a very giving society and even if people have never heard of our charity before – they are still willing to donate to our cause.”

Luke said he would like to thank all the groups, families and individuals who went along to help pack the bags for shoppers.

“The Tesco bag pack raised around £4,000,” said Luke on Christmas Eve (Saturday, December 24, 2016) morning. “We don’t have an exact amount as we only finished at midnight, but we’re counting through the day.”

PHOTO – TOP: Pictured (from left) are Charlotte Pike, of the School in a Bag charity; the Mayor and Mayoress of Yeovil, Cllr Darren Shutler and Anna; and School in a Bag charity trustee Stuart Grimster.

PHOTO – RIGHT: Dressing up for the big pack at Tesco.

The SIAB pop-up shop closed at 4pm on Friday (December 23, 2016) and Luke has announced that it amassed a total of 555 SchoolBags funded.

“We were hoping to fund 200 when we opened it so this figure is just mind-blowing,” he said.

The Mayor and Mayoress of Yeovil, Cllr Darren Shutler and his wife Anna, who have the School in a Bag, as one of their charities of the year were among the army of volunteers who helped at the bag pack at Tesco.

Cllr Shutler said: “It was a fantastic event and I’m delighted that it has raised such a lot of money.

“Congratulations to the School in a Bag team and all the shoppers who contributed and obviously Tesco for allowing the bag pack to take place in the store.”

The School in a Bag team has also been running a First Fivers scheme where people could donate one of the new £5 notes to the cause. This amounted to £550 – a total of 27.5 SchoolBags.

School in a Bag was created from the initial Piers Simon Appeal which was set-up following the Boxing Day Asian Tsunami of 2004 which killed hundreds of thousands of people including that of former Yeovil College student Piers Simon at the age of just 33.

For more information about School in a Bag – which is based at Chilthorne Domer – go to http://www.schoolinabag.org/ .

PHOTO - ABOVE: Some of the bag pack volunteers at Tesco.

PHOTO - ABOVE: The First Fives campaign.

PHOTO - ABOVE: The School in a Bag pop-up shop in the Quedam Shopping Centre in Yeovil was a huge success.

Tags:
News.