Hemel Hempstead students support the Human Milk Foundation's new project

The students designed the cover for the new milk mobile for the charity
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A school in Hemel Hempstead has been supporting the Human Milk Foundation (HMF) with the milk mobile project.

The Harpenden milk bank now has a new milk mobile after students from Longdean School designed a cover for the sponsor-led project.

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The vehicle is the first ever urgent donor human milk bank delivery car in the UK, and will be seen all over the roads in Hertfordshire and East Anglia, collecting donor milk from milk donors and delivering it to hospital NICUs and families at home.

Students from Longdean School designed a cover for projectStudents from Longdean School designed a cover for project
Students from Longdean School designed a cover for project

Longdean School has also been supporting the NHS during the pandemic by making face visors for staff.

A spokesperson for the Human Milk Foundation said: "We went into the school and briefed three students in years 9, 10 and 11 on the charity background and our aims, and tasked them with producing a design for the HMF Smart Car to be wrapped and branded.

"The students collaborated together and came up with the design attached - based on the components and molecules in human milk and the snowdrop flower (which is the charity emblem) in the HMF purple colour.

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"We have the Herts Milk Bank in Harpenden and we deliver to hospitals and families at home who need donor milk, they are referred to us by their GP normally.

Students from Longdean School designed a cover for the Milk Mobile projectStudents from Longdean School designed a cover for the Milk Mobile project
Students from Longdean School designed a cover for the Milk Mobile project

"We work with the blood bikers but we would like our own vehicle with our name on to raise awareness of the Human Milk Foundation.

"The students have been amazing, they were great to work with.

"The car has now been wrapped and should be out on the roads this week.

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"There is one car at the moment, but we are hoping to have more on the roads, hopefully people will see the car and it will raise awareness of the Human Milk Foundation."

Students from Longdean School designed a cover for the Milk Mobile projectStudents from Longdean School designed a cover for the Milk Mobile project
Students from Longdean School designed a cover for the Milk Mobile project

EPSON, the charity sponsor, have printed the wrap using the EPSON SureColor SC-S80600 printer and have made the project possible by funding MaxMedia Prints to wrap the car for us.

Bicester Graphics Studio wrapped the car with the printing done by MaxMedia Prints - on the EPSON printer.

Kate Levesley, art teacher at Longdean School, said: "The students have thoroughly enjoyed working with HMF and Epson.

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"Working collaboratively on a 'live' project has given them an insight into the world of design and made them see the process from design, consultation to the end product.

EPSON printed the wrap using the EPSON SureColor SC-S80600 printerEPSON printed the wrap using the EPSON SureColor SC-S80600 printer
EPSON printed the wrap using the EPSON SureColor SC-S80600 printer

"They have worked really hard and have created some outstanding work. We cannot wait to see the final car wrap and are excited for the design to be seen in the local and wider community.

"I would like to thank HMF and Epson for giving us this opportunity to work with them on this amazing project, knowing it will have such a positive impact on those who use it.

"I would also like to say well done to all the students involved in this - I am very proud of you all and the work you have created!”

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Dr. Natalie Shenker, Co-Founder of The Human Milk Foundation, said: “It’s been wonderful to collaborate on this project and see the 'Milk Mobile' come to fruition - we are so grateful to our charity partner EPSON and the staff at Longdean for making this possible and very impressed with the hard work that Alex, Kartel and Kamalia put in to creating the car wrap design.

"We look forward to getting the Milk Mobile out on the roads in Hertfordshire delivering urgent donor human milk and raising awareness of the work of the charity in supporting local families.”

The HMF have just trained six volunteer drivers who will be using the Milk Mobile to deliver and collect the milk for the charity.

The Human Milk Foundation has been working with its donor milk hub in Norfolk transporting milk back and forth from the milk bank in Harpenden and supporting mums across the East Anglia region.

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Daniel Quelch, sustainability manager at Epson UK, said: “The application of our product solutions to support the Human Milk Foundation has been a key component in our partnership and we’re glad to see this exciting project come to life with the help of Epson’s large format signage printers.

"Working with Longdean School to engage its students with raising awareness for our charity partner has been tremendous fun and we hope that through activities such as this, we become one step closer to getting the Human Milk Foundation the much needed support they need to meet the increased demand from families across the country.”