Drayton couple honour daughters' memory with heartfelt campaign to equip secondary school starters with essential supplies
A couple has launched a drive to collect essential school supplies for kids starting secondary school
Grief has been the driving force in a couple’s unrelenting kindness as they launch a drive for school supplies to alleviate financial pressure for families with children starting secondary school.
For a decade, Cathryn and Anthony Lewis, have dedicated their time supporting the community through a long list of donation drives and fundraisers in memory of their daughters Twemp and Edith, who both died at birth.
Cathryn, who is a paramedic with South Central Ambulance Service, told The News they “lost two daughters at birth, one was still born and one died after birth due to complications in 2016 and 2017, so every year we do a positive thing to remember them.”
This year, the pair from Drayton have launched a drive to collect essential school supplies for 50 youngsters starting secondary school in September after witnessing firsthand the “stress” parents face.
Cathryn said: “We do something different every year - We have chosen five local schools but we are going to keep the names to ourselves until we donate the bags. We volunteer for a clothes drive and we have seen a lot of people that have no money. It is really sad to see people in need and a lot of the people that come in have children who will be starting secondary school. I can just see that the parents are going to stress about the affordability of sending the kids to school with full bags.
“It’s a way to keep the memory of our girls alive while giving something back to the community - We have also launched a non-profit community group called The Community Friend because it’s the tenth anniversary of the girls’ passing and we wanted a public group to show all of the things we do for the community and what we continue to do. I can’t believe it’s been ten years - In some ways it has gone quickly. It’s hard knowing we have gone that long without them but to give back to someone else has been comforting because we can’t do it for our girls so to do it for another child has been so lovely.”
Each bag, which costs an average of £34 each, will be filled with a pencil case, pens, pencils, highlighters, a geometry set, a notepad, calculator, sticky pads, rubbers and a water bottle. So far, the couple has secured approximately half of the essentials they need to complete the drive and are “blown away” at the support they have already received.
“We want to take them to the schools before the summer holidays so parents don’t have to worry about getting all of the supplies. It’s been amazing, I’ve spoken to a couple of the teachers and they have been really, really supportive and I’ve had a lot of donations from members of the public so I think we have got quite a lot of support for this drive.”
Over the past few years, the pair have collected 120 boxes for children in care, collected sensory toys for a local nursery, raised money for Sands and launched a clothes drive for anyone in the community. On top of this, Cathryn and Anthony’s Christmas toy drive last year meant 186 children across the local area received a present during the festive period.
The deadline for donations is July 14 - If you are interested in making a contribution to the secondary school drive, you can donate via the Amazon wishlist (click here for more information) or you can drop off supplies at the Community Kettle, in Cosham.
Get in contact with Cathryn on [email protected] for more information.