Denny pupils deliver hope to a local care home this winter

Grace Malcolm, Lucy McMullan and Olivia Russell organised the Christmas gift parcels for the residents at the nursing homes as a show of faith and to spread some Christmas cheer in these uncertain times.

The girls collected hand cream, fluffy socks, chocolates, biscuits, Santa hats, Christmas decorations, soap, face cloths, cards and prayer and a scroll letter for every resident in the home before delivering the parcels yesterday.

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The Pope Francis Award encourages pupils to put faith into action and to spread kindness in their community by using all the gifts of the Holy Spirit when showing love of God and love of others, and also teaches them how to reflect on how their actions have made an impact on their journey of faith.

Clare Malcolm, Grace’s mum said: “The girls came up with the idea to give gift to the resident of the care homes as they felt that older people were often forgotten about and they wanted to do something special for them.

"We set up a Facebook group and invited people to it so they could see a list of what the girls were needing for the parcels and people could then donate the gifts – it only took them about three weeks to collect everything.

"What the girls have done is amazing and we are all delighted with them.”

Julie Merrick, service manager at Bankview Care Home said: “It was a complete surprise to us, one of the girls mum had contacted us to see if we would like for them to deliver the parcels and of course we said yes.

"Every box is unique and caters for both our male and female residents – they have actually been very clever and added toothbrushes to accompany the chocolate in the parcels as well as all of the other wonderful gifts.

"The residents will get their gifts on Christmas Day and we can’t wait to see their faces light up – if I had my way I would give them two awards.”

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