Coast & Country has teamed up with pupils from Hummersea School at Loftus to decorate Christmas boxes and fill them full of winter warmers for elderly people.
 
The creative youngsters came up with a host of festive designs for the gift boxes, which were then packed with a range of essential cold weather beating items.
 
These included hats, gloves, hot water bottles, energy saving light bulbs, cough sweets, boiled sweets, lip balm and energy advice leaflets.
 
Once the boxes had been filled to the brim, the youngsters took them to elderly people living on the Westfield Estate, where Coast & Country is investing millions to regenerate the area.
 
Iain Sim, Coast & Country Chief Executive, said: “Coast & Country, as the largest housing and regeneration company in Redcar and Cleveland, has a much wider agenda than merely focusing on property.
 
“Equally important is initiating community projects which help improve people’s lives, such as this one providing support to our elderly tenants to help them through the winter.
 
“Another significant element is that this winter warmer gift pack scheme has spanned the generations with young people putting in a lot of time and effort in to help elderly people living in their community.”
 
Edna Law, one of the residents to receive a gift pack, said: “It is nice to be thought of. They have done very well.”
 
Pupil Megan McConnell said: “We did it to help keep the older people warm through Christmas.”
 
Hummersea head teacher Ruth Hawthorne said the initiative was a valuable lesson to the pupils as it helped them realise that Christmas was not just about opening presents on December 25, but about giving as well as receiving.
 
She added: “We wanted to be involved in the gift giving scheme because we want to get more involved in the community. There are quite a lot of changes going on on the estate at the moment and we want people to know that we’re here and that we’re a good caring school and part of the community.”