Generous students and staff are helping families less fortunate than themselves in the season of goodwill.
For the sixth consecutive year, a team from Nelson and Colne College have pulled together to help make hampers for Colne Open Door Centre – a charity whose primary aim is to assist the poor and marginalised people living in the Pendle area.
Once again, the group have managed to smash their fund-raising target by making 62 large hampers to feed a family this Christmas. This equates to 124 smaller hampers – beating last year’s impressive donation of 116 hampers.
As well as donating food, the NCC fund-raisers also filled boxes full of toys, teddy bears, books, games and toiletries, to ensure that families who may not have had much to celebrate are able to have a festive season to remember.
Level 1 Care tutor Sue Hartley said: “My students worked their socks off to make this annual project a success and I am very proud of their community spirit and hard work.
“They were helped by many other students in College to carry the food into the classroom ready to assemble the hampers and put them in the van to deliver to Open Door.”
A special thank you has also been paid to Seabrook Crisps and Farmhouse Biscuits, for their generous donations, as well as to the Level 2 and 3 Health and Social Care team for contributing £70 of Body Shop gift sets to the cause.
Colne Open Door Centre Manager Dawn Lange and Support Worker Catrina Higson said: “This is absolutely amazing! We have had so many families referred to us this year that we were worried we might not be able to help them all, but now we know that we can.
“Not only that but we can give them all gifts too. Nelson and Colne College are fantastic for doing this for us every year, and we appreciate it more than they will ever know.”
For more information on Colne Open Door Centre visit www.colneopendoorcentre.org.uk and for more information about studying at Nelson and Colne College visit www.nelson.ac.uk or contact 01282 440272.
The next NCC open event will take place on Wednesday, January 27th between 5.30pm and 7pm. There will be opportunity to talk to expert staff and students, and take part in ‘have a go’ activities.
