First Give Director, Isaac Jones, and Buffini Chao Foundation trustee, Sue Gutierrez, were delighted to sit on the panel at the event. Ten year 8 groups presented to a large audience of parents, peers and teachers to explain their social action campaigns. They took ownership of their projects from day one to focus on issues and charities' most important to them. 

It was a wonderful event to celebrate the passion and commitment of the students. The judges gained insight into what really matters to the students and the range of social issues they care about supporting. 

A teacher from Co-op Academy Stoke-on-Trent, said:

“One of the wonderful things about First Give is that our students are given responsibility to do something. Quite often at their age, they’re just told what to do. But to be given ownership, it gave them a drive and the confidence to run with it.”

Sue Gutierrez, of the Buffini Chao Foundation, reflected on their social action:

“What has been amazing at this final is hearing about the wide range of social action: from the ever-popular bake sale to an art installation, charity football match, litter-picking and even a podcast! The creativity of the ideas and the impact that students had through their work were impressive.”

Congratulations to the winning class who received a £1000 grant for their creative and impactful campaign to support Stoke-on-Trent Foodbank! 

First Give Director, Isaac Jones said:

“Over 200,000 young people have made a difference to thousands of charities across England and Wales, through the First Give programme. It was a pleasure to be part of the celebratory First Give Final at Co-op Academy Stoke-on-Trent this year, where students demonstrated many of the positive outcomes of participating in social action.  The students demonstrated how passionate, committed and capable young people are of making a positive difference and helping to tackle some of our most pressing social issues."

Caroline Wolfe, from Stoke-on-Trent Foodbank, said: 

“We’re very fortunate that we’re able to offer schools a visit where they can go to their nearest distribution centre, speak to the people who are giving out the food, speak to people who’ve used the foodbank themselves and hear about the different parcels we prepare. 

“These students also came to the warehouse and saw the scale of the operation. And they actually got to do the hands on volunteering - sorting and dating the food for us - and that’s so important. We get amazing donations, but if we don’t get it sorted and out to the centres then it’s for nothing. Through their volunteering they had a meaningful contribution to the work we’re doing.”

Assistant Headteacher, Olivia Williamson, said of the event:

“First Give really has had a transformational impact on the relationships between classes, between students and their tutors and on students’ confidence - absolutely undeniably.”