STUDENTS at a Dursley school have been wrapping Christmas presents early this year for a good cause.

Rednock sixth formers Holly Rochowiak,17, Candy Pattison,18, and Rachel Jones,18, have been busy filling shoe boxes with items ready to be shipped out to refugees in time for the festive season.

The gift boxes are part of the Operation Christmas Child appeal, led by national charity Samaritan’s Purse.

“As it is approaching Christmas time, we were thinking of the children less fortunate than ourselves and started looking at ways in which we could help,” said Rachel.

“The Samaritan’s Purse project appealed to us as it would allow us to help some children have a happier Christmas.”

“The shoe boxes will go to refugee children who will otherwise not receive anything this Christmas,” said Candy.

“We want to give these children the best Christmas we can,” added Holly.

The teenagers collected 28 spare shoe boxes from shops in the town and then wrapped them up in festive paper.

They then gathered items that were suitable to put inside, and asked pupils and staff at Rednock School to donate too.

“We asked for hygiene items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste and bars of soap, as well as items that children will enjoy, such as games, bears, and colouring,” said Rachel.

“Each box was labelled with which gender it should go to, and then stated whether it should be given to a child of age two to four years, five to nine years, or 10-14, so each one is received by an appropriate child.”

The girls are uncertain where the boxes will be going, as the charity distributes across many different countries.

“We will receive an email in January which will notify us of the country our boxes went to,” said Holly.

As well as organising the boxes, Rachel, Holly and Candy raised funds for the necessary shipping costs.

“The deadline to send boxes this year has now past, but we encourage everyone to support Operation Christmas Child next year,” said Candy.

samaritans-purse.org.uk