SURPRISE Christmas presents have been given out to delighted children in Rugby town centre.
A group of 10 young people from Rugby College’s Prince’s Trust Team programme handed out the gifts as part of the Random Acts of Kindness initiative.
Using funds raised earlier on the 12-week course, the students bought presents for one to two-year-olds and nine to 10-year-olds.
Prince’s Trust Rugby Team Leader Georgia Allen said: “I was very proud of the students.
“My favourite thing was seeing their confidence levels grow as the day wore on. It’s quite a big thing to walk up to a stranger and give them a gift.”
The 16 to 20-year-olds also showed generosity and goodwill when, encouraged to select a cause close to their hearts, they rolled up their sleeves and helped Rugby-based charity Shine A Light with some decorating work.
“I was really impressed with the maturity levels shown,” Georgia added. “They were very thoughtful and provided a lot of help for the charity, which only has a handful of staff.”
Shine A Light founder and CEO Sam Schoolar praised the impact made by the Prince’s Trust team.
She said: “They were a wonderful group of young people. They completed fund-raising tasks and funded decorating materials to decorate and restore the back entrance to our new property in Rugby Central.
“The team also took part in activities with our families, helped to run an art project, made up 50 hampers for our autumn Shiny Hamper project, and helped us to deliver them out to families across Coventry and Warwickshire.
“It was brilliant working with the team and I would recommend the Prince’s Trust project work to any other local charities who need young volunteers to go and work with them.
“Several of the young people have expressed an interest in volunteering with Shine A Light on a more regular basis and we shall be very happy to have them on board.”
Visit https://wcg.ac.uk/page/25/princes-trust for more information on the Prince’s Trust Team programme.
