The Evolve Trust have been working incredibly hard this term with putting together food hampers and children's gift hampers for our families who are really struggling.

We are so pleased that with the support from staff, trustees, local businesses, other parents, that we have been able to put together 103 food hampers and 110 children's gift hampers. All hampers will be distributed to those families in need in time for Christmas.

We are in our second year of running the community charity shop and have been able to stock the shelves with lots of brand new toys to ease the pressure on those parents who are struggling. No prices are put on these items - parents are able to give what they can afford.

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Thank you so much for your very kind donations. We wanted to let you know what has been achieved so far:

Our learning environments in the Harlow Academy and the Bramble Academy have had a recent make over with the help of your support. We want to give our young people a fully immersive learning experience - I hope you enjoy looking at some of the pictures of our recently decorated corridor displays.

Books included are Rainbow Fish, Alice in Wonderland, The Magic Paintbrush, Man on the Moon, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Jungle Book, The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch, The Great Fire of London, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

- We have continued to support our families with food from our well stocked food bank. A big thank you to a local businessman who provided a very large stock of food and Morrisons for helping us to co-ordinate this.

- We have also been able to provide new uniforms to pupils at our new special school.

- We have some amazing new reading books for our school libraries at Bramble and Beech. Our pupils will love these when they return to school.

Top 3 reasons to support our charity:

1. to support our disadvantaged families with the provision of food hampers. (£10 will provide 2 hampers per family with tinned foods, cereal, tea, coffee, toiletries).

2. to be able to set up a community hub to offer a relaxed, familiar space for local people and give them an opportunity for them to access other services at the same time. This one stop shop will help parents access advice on health, jobs, parenting and learning as well as offering further education.

3. to continue to make a difference to our children - gifts at Christmas, Easter eggs, support in financing residential trips, help to buy new uniform, stock up school libraries with new books. (£30.00 to buy a pair of school shoes from Clarks).

Welcome to The Evolve Trust - Our Story

Claire-Marie Cuthbert, CEO of The Evolve Trust

The Evolve Trust is a geographically local, multi academy trust committed to providing the best possible opportunities for the local people of Mansfield and the surrounding areas. The Trust was established in 2014 and serves the needs of a range of young people from the ages of 3-18. We are led by our conviction that each and every child should gain an exceptional educational experience and in doing so, we aim to transform the life chances of future generations. We are all united in core our values of ambition, integrity, inclusivity, endeavour and resilience.

The Evolve Trust is resolute in its ambition to make a difference to the families within our communities, particularly of our most disadvantaged families who may require additional help and support, to provide meaningful, positive impact on their day-to-day lives and this is why we created the Evolve Foundation.

Please take a look at our Trust video which I hope gives you an idea of what is important to our trust. https://www.evolvetrust.org/

There are many challenges facing our community, particularly as we continue to live with the Covid-19 pandemic, our thoughts lie with our families who are struggling through these very difficult times. The effects of school closures and the lockdown has been particularly detrimental for the most disadvantaged groups in society, including vulnerable children and young people. Unemployment is very high with rates reaching record levels and the results of the pandemic has impacted this further.

Many parents who are just about managing are facing a very distressing and uncertain future and many are without any financial support. These parents are proud and want to work and support their families, however many are on zero hours contracts. Unfortunately, these parents are not in the benefits system, even though they are entitled, and are falling through the cracks of poverty. As they do not claim benefits they are also not entitled to other Government support such as free school meals.

Many of our disadvantaged families are living hand to mouth on a daily basis and we regularly hear stories of them having to borrow packets of pasta from their neighbours as they cannot put a meal together for their children. Their future is bleak and see no way of their situation improving, particularly through Covid-19. This financial burden continues to play heavily on these families and as you can imagine this leads to mental and emotional stress for them.

The Evolve Foundation operates their own food share ensuring that food hampers are available which are distributed to these families on a weekly basis. During the Autumn term 2020, the Foundation received very kind donations of gift cards, activity books, reading books, stationery, gifts etc which were used to put together Christmas boxes which were distributed to all our disadvantaged children across our trust. Our latest venture is the opening of a charity community shop which has provided many toys, gifts and clothes to our families, particularly at Christmas, and parents are asked to only pay what they can afford - no payment in many cases. Thank you for all donations which really did go a massive way to making Christmas special for many disadvantaged children. All further donations are greatly received - please contact Dawn Pare, Community Engagement Lead on dpare@evolvetrust.org, if you are able to contribute any non-perishable food, toys, gifts, books, clothes etc.

Dawn Pare, Community Engagement Lead, The Evolve Trust

A selection of Food Hampers and Christmas Boxes ready for distribution

The Evolve Foundation Charity Community Shop

The Evolve Trust has ambitions to continue to make a real difference to our community and our long term aspirations are to provide a Community Hub which offers a relaxed, familiar space for local people and an opportunity for them to access other services at the same time. This one stop shop will help parents access advice on health, jobs, parenting and learning as well as offering further education. The Foundation will be able to directly address community needs and help community members live happy, healthy and economically thriving lives.

Please help us make a difference to these families.

Thank you for your interest in the Evolve Trust story. Any donations would be truly appreciated. If you would like to discuss further, please contact Dawn on dpare@evolvetrust.org