St Bernadette's backpackers get busy for Mary's Meals

Each year the team at St Bernadette’s make these special packs, filling them with items of clothing and school equipment like notepads, pens, pencils, crayons, erasers, ruler, sharpener, pencil case, soap and a toothbrush, which are then sent to Africa where every child, through the Mary’s Meals initiative, who receives one is guaranteed a place at school and a hot meal every day.

Over the last six years the hard working St Bernadette’s team has made up over 2300 backpacks for the cause and since the Backpack Project began in 2005, Mary’s Meals has sent more than 450,000 backpacks filled by supporters across the UK to children throughout the world receiving Mary’s Meals.

The charity, which is named after Jesus’s mother, aims to provide one good meal in a place of learning so it helps draw children in deprived countries into the classroom for an education that could free them from poverty.