Ollie Braddock, pictured with a wheelbarrow, during the students’ tree planting work at Lake Te Ko Utu.
Members of the public have expressed their appreciation of the services and random acts of kindness made by Year 7 St Peter’s students in Cambridge recently.
The “Student Volunteer Army” put boots on the ground in the Cambridge community on Tuesday, spending time with residents at Resthaven, helping the Cambridge Tree Trust plant trees at Lake Te Ko Utu and delivering Christmas cookies and poems to strangers.
Amelie Gibb, Courtney Davies, Lulu Given, Summer Hicks and Chanel Lowther during a Student Volunteer Army visit to Resthaven.
Casey Gies described the young man who gave her cookies and a poem outside Countdown Cambridge as “so genuine and lovely”. She bought him a chocolate bar in return.
“I was trying to show him that what you give out in life, whether that be something material or simply love and kindness, that it will come back to you one way or another,” she said.
“It was a lovely idea and I saw smiles on plenty of customers’ faces and it was lovely to see, particularly the older customers who may not have contact with many people.”
Danielle Schaad also received cookies and a poem.
“The group of children that I spoke with was well spoken, polite and very engaging,” she said. “If I ran a business or community group, these are exactly the type of people who I would be looking for.”
Year 7 Dean Becki Botherway said their focus for the term was about service, and “other people before ourselves”. “As part of this focus we thought it would be good to put our own Student Volunteer Army into action,” she said.
Tyla Purdie, George Anthony, Ava Mills, Tom Sulzberger and Xanthe Pearson making cookies for the public.
