Meet the St Andrews students behind the care package business Saint Care

100 per cent of proceeds go toward charity YoungMind UK

3 years ago

Ever seen your flatmates receive a care package from home and wondered why your parents don’t love you as much as theirs do?

Well, a group of seven St Andrews students have created a new care package service providing a range of boxes for students and donating the profits to charity.

The St Andrews Tab caught up with the second year students to find out more about their initiative and their plans for the future. Here’s what we found out:

When was Saint Care founded?

Saint Care was founded at the beginning of this year after looking at the toll Covid-19 had on students. Initially, our project was created for our Enterprise and Creativity module, but we hope to go beyond that and have a lasting effect on our St Andrews community. Within our brainstorming meeting, we knew exactly what we wanted to do with our project and how.

What inspired you?

Seeing the way that Covid-19 brought people together in the St Andrews community, whether it was offering to bring supplies for people in quarantine or offering support during this difficult time, we simply wanted to expand upon that. The spirit of St Andrews is that no matter our backgrounds, we’re all in this together and we’re hoping that through our care boxes, people feel a little more connected.

Claire. Coll, Carleton and Daniela pictured in cover image

What is the aim of Saint Care?

We have a few. On a personal level, we wanted to make sure that people really took this time to look after themselves. The past year has affected everyone in different ways and for a lot of people, it brought to light mental health issues that they weren’t aware of. Our care boxes, whether bought for oneself or gifted to a friend, are a really great way to show others that they are valued and that there are healthy outlets to reground themselves in this troubling time.

On a social level, we know that seeing loved ones is extremely difficult at the moment, whether they’re on a different continent, or just across the street, given current restrictions. Our tagline, “thinking about you”, is exactly what we want people to know when they receive a care box – that there is someone who loves you and wants you to know that they’re here for you. We might not be able to give a hug or be in close proximity, but there is a way to show we care.

We also want to give back which is why 100 per cent of proceeds will go toward YoungMind UK, a charity focused on providing awareness and support in young people’s mental health.

How many team members do you have?

We are a team of seven second-year students: Carleton Blackwell, (Management and Economics student); Claire Slocum (Management and Art History); Laura Blundy Jones (English); Agata Buksowicz (Management and Psychology); Coll MacAskill (Management and Economics); Daniela Gardere (International Relations and Management) and Pasha Tehrani (Management Science and Maths).

Laura

How many people have purchased care boxes from Saint Care?

Within the first four days of launching, we’ve had over £1,500 in sales, selling 65+ boxes. Our most popular sellers are our Funky & Chunky cookie box and our T(ea)LC box.

Who is your target customer?

We hope our products will reach anyone in our St Andrews community, both town and gown. A lot of our orders have been from parents sending boxes to their children at St Andrews as a way of checking in and sending love. We also get a lot of students buying boxes for friends and themselves. Overall, our boxes are ideal for anyone looking to send or receive a little love.

Pasha

What makes it unique?

With a lot of us being international students, we saw a market that revolved around care packages. Parents can send something through Amazon or a Tesco delivery to cheer up your day, but there’s nothing personal and loving about a cold cardboard box with a single item. Our boxes are crafted with love and are intended to reflect the sender’s intention for purchasing a box.

We offer a variety of boxes with multiple products to ensure that there’s something for everyone. We chose our products very deliberately to provide a safe escape and outlet for stress and anxiety. For instance our Art for your Heart box has the coloring book “Calm as F*ck” as a funny and creative way to release stress and our T(ea)LC box has a variety of tea selections with different focuses such as energy and productivity or calm and relaxed.

Our boxes also correlate with our aims of spending time with yourself and fostering relationships. Boxes such as our Relaxation Station are focusing more on individual care, whereas our Pinkies Up Box is about bonding with friends or flatmates over a couple drinks. At the same time, all of our boxes can go either way as single or group activities.

We also made sure to support local business through including products from companies like Highland Soap Co and Isle of Skye Candles.

Agata

Do you have any plans for expansion / growth?

We’re hoping to be able to produce boxes that aren’t pre-ordered and can be shipped as orders come in. We’ve also been brainstorming for some special holiday boxes such as a themed box for Valentines Day, so make sure to look out for those.

What else do you think students can do to promote maintaining good mental health?

In a time like this, the most important thing is to look after yourself and your loved ones. Whether that’s with the help of Saint Care or not is irrelevant. It’s important to take time for yourself and check in where you are mentally, don’t let it creep up on you, so you can react as necessary, whether that’s taking a day off for time for yourself, or reaching out to people you haven’t seen in a while and getting some (socially distant) interaction. It’s very easy to close yourself off in troubling times, but you have to remember that St Andrews is a community in every sense of the word – you’re always going to have someone standing behind you and supporting you. That’s the power behind our care boxes – you know that there’s someone standing behind you.