Mini Vinnies

1. Mini Vinnies

2. Mini Vinnies 22.10.2018 • First Meeting: We elected President/ Vice President • Courtney Forbes = President • Chloe Pearson = Vice President • We reviewed last years projects. • Foodbank and Toy Appeal = Autumn • CAFOD = ( Easter) Spring • We talked about what St Vincent De Paul society is/ what they do. • We also talked about our future projects. • 1- Mission Together ( biscuit sale) • 2- Foodbank • 3- Toy Appeal • Year 6 will organise a rota so they can sell biscuits ( gingerbread men) at school playtimes- mornings for CAFOD. • Our meeting will decide upon our summer projects.

3. Mini Vinnies 23.11.2018 We discussed the amount raised for Mission Together = £18.45. A well done to the Year 6 children who worked through break-times to sell biscuits. We then talked again about future projects and we agreed to do: Foodbank, Toy Appeal and also one other, Children to explore an area of concern. Some children suggested carol singing at the OAP home to cheer up the elderly residents at Christmas. We are also putting on a concert for them. We split into three groups for each project. The children voted to collect hats and scarves for Shiloh. Mr. Searson talked about prayer cards and badges and the pack ordered by Mrs Briggs has arrived.

4. What do people think about Mini Vinnies? People think Mini Vinnies is an amazing opportunity for our young people as it enables them to put what they learn in the classroom for religion into practice – they are living out their faith within their school. The children love the experience of helping others and they are also involved in fun activities while fundraising for there local Vinnie's. What is really important is that the children feel part of a community and this gives them a great sense of pride. The most important aspect of the Mini Vinnie’s work is request to care for the children in there own school environment, especially those who didn’t belong to a group, who frequently played alone or were regularly in trouble for misbehaving in the playground. Mini Vinnie's made sure that others in our school are happy because we look out for people who are alone . Some people think they are a better person since joining Mini Vinnie's.

5. Meeting 2nd week of December At this meeting we split into 3 groups to write a letter for parents to inform them about each project. We will get Chloe (the vice president) and Courtney (the President) to organise. Each group organised a timetable for each member to take turns collecting food, hats/scarves and toys from the classrooms and organising the storage in the hall. We must remember politeness when calling at each class. Storing our gifts neatly and tidily in the hall.

6. Our Autumn Project Dear Parent/Carer, Mini Vinnies is made up of lots of children from St Josephs who come together as a group to help raise money for lots of different charities. This half term we have decided to help with a Foodbank, a Toy appeal and even donate hats, scarves and socks to the homeless. We would really appreciate if your child would be willing to bring in one of these items to help with these events. You could bring in: • Hats • Scarves • Socks • Old teddy's or nearly new toys • Stuffed animals • Tinned food • Fruit • Vegetables • Soup • Rice Yours Sincerely, The President and Vice President of Mini Vinnies ( Chloe & Courtney Year 6)

7. Dec 18th loading the collections to be distributed. • The food bank: Mr Searson’s car was loaded up with the boxes of food. We had a great collection this year. He then delivered them to the food bank who were extremely pleased because their stocks were running low.

8. The Toy Appeal. • The toys were delivered to Maltby Town Council who were busy sorting appropriate toys for different age children and adults. There were over 40 families to help this Christmas.

9. Shiloh, warm clothing for the homeless. The clothing was boxed up ready for Mrs Ratcliffe to take to Shiloh, the homeless centre in Rotherham town centre.

10. Lauren and Niamh’s Assembly. • After Christmas Lauren and Niamh from Y6 gave a presentation to the whole school in assembly. They talked about what the Minnie Vinnies group is, what they do and how others can get involved. It was very successful and there are now lots of other children wanting to get involved in our Spring project linked to Lent. • Well done to the girls for a wonderful presentation.

11. St Mary’s High Green visit St Joseph’s. • On Friday 1st February our Minnie Vinnie group had visitors from St Mary’s High Green. • There were 8 children, the chair of governors, deputy head and the RE lead. • They were very impressed with our children who gave a talk and presentation about how they organise projects and what the Minnie Vinnies are all about.

12. Some comments from our visitors; Hi Andrew, It was fantastic to meet you and your Mini Vinnies group. It was wonderful to see how confident, enthusiastic and passionate they all were about what they are doing. They should be incredibly proud of themselves - what wonderful ambassadors, not just for Mini Vinnies, but of St Joseph's. You all made us feel so welcome - thank you. I am really excited to see Mini Vinnies getting established at St Mary's and look forward to see what ideas they come up with and to see them make a difference, not just in St Mary's , but also the wider community. Thank you so much for having us. Best wishes Claire

13. Next Project: • Our Spring Project: • We will be raising awareness and money for CAFOD and their work overseas. We are global citizens so we will always try and help those in poorer regions of the world. We will raise money to buy seeds, tools and fishing nets so the people can feed themselves.