Loreto students are helping children in poorer countries go to school by collecting the equipment they need.
 

The college has collected nearly 30 backpacks full of school kit for the charity Mary’s Meals. The packs will now be sent out to families who cannot afford to buy pencils, notebooks or even suitable clothes their children need for school.

Loreto College Chaplain Richard Howard said students and staff have given generously to the project.

“I think the idea of the project appealed to students’ imagination, because they could appreciate that children in developing countries do not always have the school basics that we take for granted,” he said.
“Letting them have these simple backpacks and equipment can be the difference between them staying at home or going to school."

He said the success meant the appeal would be run again next year when he hoped to build on this year’s achievements.

Mary’s Meals is an international movement to set up school feeding projects in communities where poverty and hunger prevent children from gaining an education. The charity provides daily meals in school for over 400,000 children in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe and distributes the back packs, which contain items such as toothpaste and soap, as well as pencils and pens.