‘You are amazing no matter what' was just one of the messages left on cans donated to the Katikati Christian Foodbank.

A Can Drive was run by Katikati College students part of the Graeme Dingle Foundation KiwiCan programme.

'Almost 200 cans were brought by the students from home and then each of those cans were decorated with a sticker written with a special message for the recipient from the kids,” says the Graeme Dingle Foundation Bay of Plenty Facebook page.

'These cans were then donated to the Katikati Christian Foodbank who were incredibly grateful to receive them.

'A huge part of what we do with KiwiCan is teaching our tamariki lessons that help them connect to their community and help make it a more positive, kind and compassionate place through their actions and attitudes.

'The reason for opting to do a Can Drive with our students was to tie our RAoK week into our Dealing With Challenges topic. In the lesson they were to think of worldwide issues, and together come up with a way we can tackle that issue and make a difference. The issues ranges from social media, to traffic congestion, to poverty.

'With this, we then led the kids to think of an issue that affects us closer to home in which we could make a difference – poverty happened to be the unanimous decision, and the Can Drive idea was born.

'The kids though about how one can of food, or one sentence of positive affirmation, can change a person's day completely – there is huge power in connection, positive communication and kindness.

'It's super important to us that the projects are driven by our kids and we are so proud of their thoughtfulness and generosity. Compassion is invaluable and our tamariki have it in spades.”