When pupils from Onchan School held their school council in Douglas town hall’s council chamber they were inspired by the collection of food and household items begun by the Mayor of Douglas Debbie Pitts and her mayoress Linda Curphey that were to be donated to Isle of Man Foodbank and Housing Matters, two Manx charities helping those in food and housing crisis.

Councillor Pitts said:: 'On learning about what the mayoress and I were doing, the pupils decided that when the school celebrated their harvest festival they would donate boxes for us to distribute to the two charities. We went to the school to see how they were doing and were shown around by deputy head girl Scarlett Kirkwood and head boy Matthew Eison. We heard how all the classes were learning about homelessness - about the difference between what we need and what we want - and how we can all help to make a difference to the lives of people in crisis.
 
'The children had clearly put a lot of effort into the project and we offered our sincere thanks to them, their parents and the teachers for their support. We took the opportunity of our return to the school to receive the boxes to invite the chairman of Onchan Commissioners Anthony Allen to join us because when we attended Onchan's civic service we discovered they, too, had donated their harvest items to Isle of Man Foodbank. We would also like to extend a huge thank you to Miss Corkill and headteacher Jo Richardson and all the teaching staff for their willingness to tackle such a difficult subject.'

Photo - The Mayoress of Douglas Linda Curphey and the Mayor Debbie Pitts with Onchan Commissioners’ chairman Anthony Allen and children from Onchan School. Picture Andrew Barton.