Perse students support local community during coronavirus crisis

7 May 2020

Face shields made by Daniel and Adam Vlasits

Alex Dixon doing the 2.6 Challenge

Scrubs, uniform bags and ear savers made by Matteo and Marco Codispoti

Perse students and their families have been doing their bit to support the local community during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Brothers Daniel (Upper Sixth) and Adam Vlasits (Year 11) spent their Easter break producing 30 face shields to help protect workers at two Cambridge GP surgeries and a local pharmacy, while Benedict Hannam (Lower Sixth) and his parents are involved in a scheme in their village sewing scrubs and scrub bags for Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

Brothers Matteo (Year 11) and Marco Codispoti (Year 9) have also been making brightly-coloured scrubs, uniform bags and ‘ear savers’ for NHS workers on the front line, such as their father.

Sisters Erica (Year 7) and Angela Han (Year 10) have been joined by their mother in picking up medicines and doing shopping for elderly self-isolating residents in their village having recently sent out notes offering their help. Erica said: “There are quite a few elderly people living in my area and we all just wanted to help. We have had quite a few calls and it feels very good helping others.”

Rory Clark (Lower Sixth) and Daniel Rix (Year 11) have also had a great response after delivering a leaflet with their email and phone details offering help to residents in their area. They have already run several errands, particularly for elderly people, including collecting newspapers, prescriptions and groceries, and lending tools. Their initiative prompted a suggestion to start WhatsApp and Facebook groups, with Rory being an administrator of the latter.

Alex Dixon (Year 11) and his family took part in the 2.6 Challenge and raised more than £200 for charity. For his part, Alex took part in a 2.6-kilometre run, played table tennis for 26 minutes and took part in 26 minutes of yoga. Other activities performed by members of his family included a 6.76 (2.6 squared) kilometre walk and 26-kilometre outdoor and indoor bike rides.

Please let us know what you have been doing to support your local community. You can email communications@perse.co.uk