PUPILS at a Wee County primary used their monthly non-uniform day for a good cause last week as they collected food for those may need it this Christmas.

Children at Park Primary enjoy a dress down Friday at the end of every month with a donation going towards a school fund.

Last Friday, however, instead of a monetary donation each pupil brought in an item of food costing less than £1 before it was donated to Hawkhill Food Larder, an initiative started in September.

Nicola Beveridge, a member of the Park Family Team (PFT), told the Advertiser that everyone at the school was blown away by the generosity.

She said: “Every year had a different category to bring stuff in so we didn’t end up with loads of the same stuff. We got food tins, pasta, cereal, noodles, biscuits, teabags and hot chocolate.

“The limit was £1 each but some did in come in with more which was fine, but they didn’t have to. We wanted to highlight the work the larder is doing at Hawkhill because parents at Park might even need to use it.

“We had an amazing response; better than we thought we would get as we had two cars full of bags to be taken down to the centre.”

As well as being an amazing gesture, there was also a teaching opportunity for the pupils, as teachers were able to talk to the children about the importance of kindness, especially at this time of year.

Nicola said: “The teaching staff will have taken the opportunity to talk about kindness and how it is important to give back to the community.”

She also wanted to pay thanks to the parents and carers of pupils who generously donated whatever they could as it wouldn’t have been possible without their support.

On Facebook, Hawkhill Community Centre posted a message of thanks, it read: “We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who kindly donated food items this morning for dress down day.

“PFT and Hawkhill Food Larder are blown away by the response. Park Primary you are amazing and we are so proud of everyone’s kindness.”

Run at the Hawkhill Community Centre, the larder charges an annual £5 membership and £2 for a bag of 10 items per week for single people and £4 for a bag of 20 items per family.