Budding artist Olivia Pollock raised £100 for North Ayrshire Foodbank after selling rainbow-themed origami hearts to her family and friends during lockdown.
Putting her artistic talents to the test, the 11-year-old Whitehirst Park primary school pupil came up with the thoughtful fundraising idea after drawing a rainbow for her home as part of the rainbows in the window campaign to spread a message of hope and positivity during the pandemic.
Making the hearts in her free time at home, Olivia said: “I noticed all of the lovely rainbows going up in my street on everyone’s front windows and it inspired me to get out my pens and draw lots more colourful rainbow designs to make people smile during lockdown.
“I really love to draw and make colourful things and when I was in primary 5, I watched a YouTube how-to video on origami because I really wanted to learn how to make pretty folded paper art.
“I’m now really good at making origami hearts so I decided to decorate all the paper I had with all of the colours I could find then my dad helped me to sell them to my family and friends so we could raise some money to help the Foodbank.”
And, not content with just making hearts, Olivia has been using her time between home-schooling classes to get stuck into plenty more arts and crafts projects including bunting for VE Day and making different mementos with her brother and sister to be included in a lockdown time capsule which the family will bury in the back garden.
Olivia’s dad, North Ayrshire Council employee, Chris Pollock couldn’t be prouder.
He said: “Olivia’s mum and I are extremely proud of her and her creative fundraising effort for the Foodbank.
“Almost the first thing she thought about when lockdown started was what could she do to help others during this difficult time.
“Olivia was extremely enthusiastic about her idea and was very determined to try and raise as much money for the foodbank as she could.
She hopes that the hearts will remind everyone to keep smiling as we are all missing our family and friends during this time in lockdown.
“With the help of her wee sister Eilidh and younger brother Murray, Olivia and I delivered the hearts on our daily walk to the doorsteps of family and friends who live locally to us.
“Fortunately, the weather has been good, so all of the hearts were left outside of each relative or friends’ property, who in turn left their donation outside for Olivia to pick up at the same time.
“Olivia really enjoys art and design and is looking forward to studying these subjects when she starts secondary school after the pandemic ends.”
Craig Crosthwaite, North Ayrshire Foodbank Coordinator said: “I would like to thank Olivia for her kind donation to her local foodbank.
“Thanks to Olivia, the donation of £100 will help to provide us with enough supplies for 80 meals as we continue to provide a lifeline service to people who need it most during these challenging times.”
If you would like to donate to the North Ayrshire Foodbank you can do so online here: https://tinyurl.com/uv842xj or visit your local supermarket Foodbank donation point when doing your next essential food shop.
