Stenhousemuir schoolboy entrepreneur gives local foodbank a boost

Aaron Clark, who runs his own business The Kandy Kid, raised enough money from a raffle to buy two large trolleys of food to donate to the Kersiebank Community Project's Foodbank. (Pic: Submitted)

Nine-year-old Aaron Clark set up his own business The Kandy Kid earlier this year, suppling pick and mix confectionery favourites in boxes decorated for special occasions.

Now, the Stenhousemuir primary pupil has donated two trolley loads of food to the Kersiebank Community Project’s foodbank thanks to the generosity of his customers.

Aaron organised a raffle offering customers the chance to win treats for what he described as the “ultimate family night in”, including a huge family sharing sweetie box, a £30 takeaway voucher for Three Little Pigs, popcorn, crisps, candy floss and fizzy drinks.

The fundraiser was well received and the money from ticket sales allowed Aaron to buy items from the supermarket to give to the foodbank.

This donation is not Aaron’s first fundraiser for charity. He previously raffled one of his sweetie boxes in aid of Strathcarron Hospice raising £220.50.

In a social media post encouraging people to buy tickets, Aaron said: “I have learned a lot about food banks at school and so I have decided that my target is to fill a big trolley to the top with food that I can donate to Kersiebank Community Project’s Foodbank.

"I want to make sure I include lots of treats in the trolley because it makes me feel sad that there are kids that might not get treats very often.”

Thanks to the generosity of those who entered the raffle, which was drawn at the end of November, Aaron smashed his target of filling a trolley with food – and instead he managed to buy enough to fill two!

Proud mum Veronica said: “He really enjoyed doing the raffle for Strathcarron and he knew he wanted to do something else, he just wasn’t sure what charity he wanted to do it for.

"Coming up to Christmas time me and him had spoken about how a lot of kids won’t get treats, even like sweets, and he said he wanted to make sure there were treats like biscuits, sweets and selection boxes included in the donation. He comes up with these ideas himself and he is the kindest wee boy.”