Millfield students raise £10,000 during COVID-19

Students at Millfield in Somerset have raised a total of £10,000 for UK charities including the Somerset NHS Foundation, MIND UK, CALM and St Margaret's Hospice during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The money has been raised individually and through the school’s House programme by students taking part in fundraising events all over the world. Initiatives include making and selling PPE masks, baking cakes, taking part in a virtual Glastonbury Road Run, a 10p ‘keepie-uppie’ challenge and a sunflower-growing sweepstake, amongst many others.

A group of students have also started volunteering in hospitals across the UK and working at a local supermarket in Glastonbury arranging deliveries and stocking shelves, with their shifts starting at 5:30am.

Millfield, an independent school in Street, Somerset, has worked closely with the local Parish and District Councils to provide support for the local Somerset community during the coronavirus outbreak, and has led the funding and co-ordination of delivering over 32,500 main meals to 6,500 vulnerable people in Somerset who are eligible for free school meals. Through the generosity of local Millfield parents and staff, over £16,000 was raised to fund the meals for over 160 families every week which has continued into the summer. The initiative was in place months before the Government made a U-turn on providing summer school meals after England Footballer Marcus Rashford’s involvement. Volunteers from the school have also delivered almost 3,000 prescriptions to vulnerable local people in the Street area who are continuing to self-isolate.

Millfield Headmaster Gavin Horgan says, “I am so proud of our students embodying our school’s Values to ‘Be Kind’ during a time where so much goodwill is needed. To see our students taking what they have learned at school and inspiring their own communities has been a wonderful outcome during this time, and I want to thank each and every volunteer and donor who has helped to raise such a fantastic amount for these good causes. These initiatives have brought the local community closer together and we look forward to seeing what else Millfield can be involved in in the future.”