Our Galashiels store donates £17,000 worth of surplus school uniforms to pupils

Our Galashiels store – led by community champion Nola Milne – has donated £17,000 worth of surplus school uniforms to more than 3,700 local primary and secondary pupils from 15 schools in the Galashiels and Hawick area.

**Pics free to use** Pictured: Pupils, Ben, Caleb, Maya, Julia, Alicia and Head Teacher Ms Grant at Langlee Primary School with Asda Gala community Champion Nola Milne Asda Galashiels has made a donation in £17,000 worth of school uniforms to over 3700 surrounding local primary and secondary schools in the Galashiels and Hawick area. As part of a UK wide initiative by Asda, the Galashiels store worked with a local church representative and identified who was most in need of the donation locally, the two towns most in need were Galashiels and Hawick and the schools within them. So the uniforms were distributed evenly to the 13 primary schools (over 2000 children), and 2 secondary schools (1700 children) in these areas.

She teamed up with local charity Soulspan Ministries, and the education board to identify which schools were in most need of the uniforms.

Nola said “It has been phenomenal to be a part of something so huge and so impactful for the community. It has been a real privilege for me to support our local schools with such an enormous donation as some areas in the Borders are in real need and this donation will help so many families.

"This would not have been at all possible without the tireless efforts of Keith and his team of fantastic volunteers from Soulspan Ministries who allowed us the use of their church in Galashiels to sort the uniforms. I feel very proud to be part of Asda and to have been part of this project.”

Keith Scott, CEO Soulspan, said: “The response from the schools was amazing. One teacher broke down in tears at the generosity from Asda, which just goes to show the impact that’s been made with this sizeable donation. It was a privilege to be involved in this project with Asda, Soulspan works a lot with people in the community, so we were able to use our connections to see that this tremendous gift was distributed covering a large part of the Scottish borders.

“We were bowled over by Asda’s generosity, meeting the need of so many families in these difficult times. We have a great working relationship with Asda, holding men’s meetings in the cafeteria for the last 15 years. The schools have actively distributed the uniforms straight away to families in need. It was a mammoth task but we managed to complete it in five days.”

And Jenny Grant, head teacher of Langlee Primary School, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have benefited from this generous donation. The uniforms supplied have been very popular with our families, especially during our current cost of living crisis. It has been provided at a good time of the year, to both see children through to the end of term and to provide clothes for the new school year after the summer. We are very grateful to have received this thoughtful gift, thank you Asda.”

Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, has put forward a motion for the Scottish Parliament to recognise the efforts of all involved.

He said: “It was inspiring to learn about the heart-warming generosity of the Asda Galashiels team and Soulspan. These donations will be valued by local school children and their families. I am also delighted to have lodged a motion to recognise this initiative in the Scottish Parliament.”