College’s Christmas Cheer for Bay Homeless

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE students at South Devon College have clubbed together for a project to help Torbay’s homeless population this Christmas.

The young students, across all levels of health and social care at the College, worked on an ‘enterprise activity’ designed to raise money for a worthy festive charity. Through the sale of donated items, cakes and collection buckets the students managed to raise an incredible £450, and used the money to create 150 Christmas ‘Gift’ Bags for homeless people in the Bay. They personally decorated each bag, which contain a handmade Christmas card, gloves, thick socks, a thermal hat, a chocolate bar, and sweets.

“The students worked really hard to raise the money and were immensely proud of their achievements and entrepreneurial skills,” said the student’s tutor and project organiser Sally Freeman, “We were all really impressed with the staff and student’s generosity at South Devon College and I’d like to thank all the students and staff involved, hopefully we’ve given some needier people than us a happier Christmas.”

20 of the Christmas gift bags were given to Paignton Day Centre to distribute to some of their visitors who were homeless or sleeping rough, and 130 of the Christmas bags - along with boxes of mince pies - were donated to the Leonard Stocks Centre for the Homeless at Factory Row in Torquay. Here they have accommodation for 24 people, also run a rough sleeper service every morning and a winter service where they open the doors to the homeless every night when the temperature dips below 1 degree Celsius. Deputy Manager at Leonard Stocks Centre, Ron Nyland, recently invited some of the students involved in to visit the centre and thank them personally, where they were given a tour of the facilities and an opportunity for an informative question and answer session.

“We really appreciate all the students have done for our clients here at the Leonard Stocks Centre – it was amazing to see all the gift bags for our residents,” said Jenny Paton, Trust Fundraiser for The Shekinah Mission, the overall charity that the Leonard Stocks Centre falls under, “we are so grateful for their hard work and support and it was lovely that they chose to support our clients.”

If you can offer South Devon College health and social care students any work placement opportunities, please contact Laura Allison at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . For more information on courses at South Devon College call free on 08000 380 123 or visit www.southdevon.ac.uk. For more information on The Shekinah Mission or the Leonard Stocks Centre visit www.shekinahmission.co.uk.