CHILDREN from a Westbury nursery and pre-school donated food to a charity supporting families in need.
Little ones aged 2 to 4 years from the BebeTots pre-school room learned about the work of Crosspoint, which is run by volunteers, and brought in food and toiletries to add to the nursery’s purchases, before delivering them to the charity in the Market Place.
Jennifer Morris, owner of Bebe Tots which is in Trowbridge Road, told White Horse News it had been rewarding to pay forward the kindness and support the nursery received from parents during what has been a “challenging year”.
Jennifer explained, “The awe and wonder of children is magical. Working with children is an honour. Each day brings something new and exciting. The children in the pre-school room have been learning and questioning where food is from, asking, ‘how can we make potatoes?’ Or ‘can we plant the melon seeds to grow?’ And commenting, ‘eggs come from chickens!’
“Their natural curiosity and growing understanding of things that are often taken for granted never ceases to make every day a learning opportunity.
“During times of great curiosity, BebeTots aim to teach the children new concepts; they were asked ‘what happens if you don’t have enough money to buy food?’. The children seemed puzzled at the prospect, which gave a great learning opportunity to explain the amazing work that the volunteers do at Crosspoint, opening their doors each week for donations of food, to then distribute to and support those most in need.
“One child asked, ‘can we give food for people?’ With others soon agreeing, how could the nursery say no?
“The children have been taking their donations of food and toiletries to add to what the nursery have purchased, and they were proud to set it out to see how much was collected, talking about the different foods they had and where they came from.
“The children bagged it all up and walked to Crosspoint, Market Place, to add to the donations already collected.”
Jennifer said BebeTots would like to thank all the parents who helped them achieve such a collection. She added the volunteers at Crosspoint thanked BebeTots for everything and assured them that everything will be gratefully received.
“2020 has been a challenging year for everyone for many reasons,” she said. “BebeTots wanted to pay forward the kindness and support that has been offered to the team and help others in the community in return.
“Like many other nurseries and schools across the UK, earlier this year BebeTots were told the nursery had to close to most children, only accepting the most vulnerable children and those of keyworkers, allowing them to continue their valuable work.
“My team and I are very grateful to all the parents during lockdown, they were so supportive of the nursery throughout such a difficult time. Their patience and understanding was overwhelming. It has made me realise that small acts of kindness can go a long way and make such a difference; the lovely messages we had from parents over the months, kept me and my team going through such a challenging and worrying time.
“Now that we have most children back in nursery, it is rewarding to be able to ‘pay forward’ the kindness and support we have received and give something back to our community.”
Westbury was lucky to have great volunteers at Crosspoint, helping those most in need within the town, Jennifer added. “We would like to show our thanks to them also, for keeping going through Covid-19 and supporting our community over the years.
Pictured: Deputy managers Rachel and Leanne with (left to right) Itay, Nyla, Hugo, Jamie, Arabella and James and their collection.
