A North East roofing firm is supporting local schoolchildren by providing equipment for the new school year.
Findley Roofing and Building, which is based in Hartlepool, has continued its Kool 4 Skool initiative for the fourth year in a row, providing local children with equipment including stationery and school uniform vouchers.
Kool 4 Skool was launched by Findley Roofing and Building’s director, Grant Findley, in 2018 and stemmed from his desire to help local families who struggle to afford new school uniforms and equipment for their children.
Last year, Grant and the team provided 60 primary school pupils with back to school packs and have surpassed that figure for 2022, filling 139 packs. Each Kool 4 Skool pack contains essential school equipment, stationery items and a £30 voucher towards school uniforms from Little Gems.
Grant said: “This year, our efforts have really paid off and we’ve helped more than twice as many children as we did in 2021!
“With many families across the North East facing mounting worries relating to the rising cost of living this winter, projects like this are a more fundamental lifeline for parents and children than ever before.
” We’ve tried to get the schools as much help as they have asked for, to help families heading into winter, coming back to school, so they’ve got all the kit they need and giving them some vouchers for uniform as well.
“It’s been really well received and I’m happy that we’ve managed to do this and going forward we want to help more schools, we’re really pleased to help and hopefully everyone can get behind this project and we make this bigger and bigger every year.”
This year, the Kool 4 Skool packs were distributed to students at Blackhall primary School and Hesleden Primary School which are both based in the Hartlepool area.
Rachel Leonard, headteacher at Blackhall Primary School, added: “Everybody thinks back to their own childhood and thinks about their first day of primary school or their first day back in a new school year. Just having a new bag or new things to wear, it just makes it such a more pleasurable experience.
“The children feel more confident, and that has a huge impact on their academic achievement whilst in school as well.”
This is not Grant and Findley Roofing’s first major philanthropic project in 2022. Back in February Grant travelled to Thailand where he met poverty-stricken families, providing them with essential equipment and supplies to help with enhancing their quality of life, including new school uniforms for the children and gardening equipment so that the communities could grow their own vegetables.
For more information on Findley Roofing, visit https://www.findleyroofing.co.uk/