Falkirk Pupils help Bo'ness charity

The YPI finalists before the judges made their final decision

Teams in first year at St Mungo’s in Falkirk competed against each other for the money available to the winners of the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) sponsored by The Wood Foundation in Scotland.

They all had to do their homework by researching social issues like homelessness, food poverty and mental health in their community and speaking to the volunteers involved in the charity they wanted to champion before presenting their case to the judges explaining why their selected good cause should be awarded the funds to continue its good work.

Over 200 youngsters in S1 were involved in the challenge with the best entry from each class reaching the final.

At the end of a presentation evening attended by the students and representatives of the charity they were supporting, the winner was revealed as Bo’ness Storehouse Foodbank.

Depute head Audrey Farley who was one of the judges said: “Last year our school was the first in Scotland to offer YPI to S1 pupils and it was so successful we were able to give this year’s S1 students the same experience.

“This was a fantastic opportunity for them to put their faith into action, be of service to the common good and try to make a difference to our society. The judges had a difficult decision to make after listening to so many impassioned presentations. But the foodbank was absolutely delighted to receive the cheque.”