Mary’s Meals Backpack Project

At St. Catherine’s Primary School we take part in the Mary’s Meals Backpack challenge.  The children will hopefully hear from John Duffy from Mary’s Meals who spoke about the impact of the Backpack challenge and how our school can help last year. 

Mary’s Meals strives to remove the barriers that stop the world’s poorest children from benefiting from an education and, while their main aim is attracting hungry children to the classroom by providing a daily meal at school, they have also identified another major way in which we can help.

Very often families in the countries where Mary’s Meals work cannot afford to buy basic things like pencils and notepads, or even suitable clothes for their children to wear to school.  That’s why Mary’s Meals started the backpack Project as the perfect companion to Mary’s Meals. 

The Backpack challenge is taken up each year by individuals, schools, churches, colleges or other groups.  These groups fill school bags with items like, notepads, pencils, crayons and rulers.  These are then collected in Mary’s Meals warehouse in Scotland and transported in containers to their projects in countries like Liberia, Malawi, Haiti, Uganda and Kenya. 

When they arrive at their destination, the backpacks have an electrifying effect on the children – many of who have never received a present before and have little or no material possessions.  A simple backpack filled with educational materials can be a lifeline to these children, since studies show again and again that gaining an education provides the best chance of a chronically poor child escaping poverty in later life. 

Here are some items that can be included in the Backpack Project:

• Backpack
• Notepad
• Pencils
• Pens
• Crayons
• Eraser
• Ruler
• Sharpener
• Pencil case
• Towel
• Shorts/Skirts
• T-shirts/Dresses
• Flip-flops/Shoes
• Small ball
• Soap
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Spoon

To find out more information about Mary' Meals please follow the links below:

http://www.marysmeals.org.uk/

http://www.marysmeals.org.uk/resources/films/

Also, please have look at the videos of the importance of Mary's Meals and the impact that the Backpack Challenge has.  Follow the link below:

 http://www.marysmeals.org.uk/what-you-can-do/backpack-project/