Help fight world hunger by joining the Really Good School Dinner campaign in 2012
Before we get down to the nitty gritty, here’s a little food for thought …
- Every year 15 million children die of hunger.
- 160 million children under the age of five worldwide are malnourished.
- One in four children – roughly 146 million – in developing countries is underweight.
Not easy numbers to digest are they?
That’s why for the fourth successive year The School Food Trust has teamed up with the World Food Programme to run the Really Good School Dinner! The campaign gives children in the UK a really easy and simple way to join the fight against world hunger by helping fellow school pupils in some of the world’s poorest countries.
Since the campaign began, more than 250,000 meals have been eaten by children in this country as part of the campaign, raising more than £26,000. That means more than 450,000 school meals have been eaten in the developing world since the Really Good School Dinner was launched.
We’re very close to reaching the incredible landmark figure of 500,000 school meals provided in the third world – so as you can imagine, it’s a very exciting time for the campaign. We don’t just want to reach this target, we want to fly right past it! But, we can’t do this without your help.
What it’s all about?
How it works
Its impact so far
How to take part
Your free campaign pack
More free resources online
Film clips for schools
About the World Food Programme
What it’s all about
According to our campaign partner, the UN World Food Programme, roughly 25,000 people die of hunger or hunger-related causes every day. That’s one person every 3.6 seconds, and more often than not, it’s a child that loses their life.
The Really Good School Dinner campaign is a simple way for school pupils here in the UK to help tackle that huge injustice.
The idea? All pupils have to do is simply buy one school meal, and with an extra 10p donation, they will be giving one school meal to a hungry child for free. It also means children here are encouraged to eat and enjoy a really good school dinner.
The campaign is led by the School Food Trust in partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
How it works
Firstly, you choose a week in February to run your Really Good School Dinner campaign. Some schools choose to increase the duration to two weeks – it is really up to you how you make the campaign your own.
You ask your pupils to donate just 10 pence extra for each school meal they have during the campaign week. Each 10p pays for a whole meal for a child in the developing world. It also helps them to get an education – many children in developing countries simply can’t go to school unless a meal is provided there, as they have to work to feed themselves. In essence, the pupils buy one and give one free.
The impact so far
As we launch the campaign for the fourth year in a row, schools that have taken part so far have helped the Really Good School Dinner raise more than £26,000. The World Food Programme has transformed this money into more than 450,000 school meals for children in the developing world.
With so many countries needing help to fight hunger, you may be wondering exactly where have we helped before.
- The very first campaign kicked off to a great start with 332 participating schools providing over 100,000 meals in 2009.
- In 2010, the campaign provided around 72,000 meals for children in 148 schools in Haiti following the devastating earthquake.
- Funds raised in 2011 were sent to help children in Afghanistan, where girls are gradually retuning to studies after being banned by the Taliban. But as 70 percent are still not enrolled, the WFP provided girls who attend classes with take-home rations of vegetable oil to address the gender imbalance which prevents girls from receiving an education.
- For the 2012 campaign, the money raised by pupils is likely to support WFP projects currently underway in the African countries of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.
How to take part
Click here to join the Really Good School Dinner
Alternatively, you can also register by sending an email to info@childrensfoodtrust.org.uk, putting Really Good School Dinner in the subject box, and providing us with the following details:
• your name
• your school’s name
• your school’s full address, including the post code
Your free campaign pack
Once we hear from you, we’ll send you a free campaign pack to help you prepare and promote the campaign within your school. The pack includes:
- a 10p ‘scratch’ poster
- hunger map
- collection bucket wrap
We’ll also email you a letter you can edit to send home to parents to tell them about the campaign.
Sending your donation
At the end of your Really Good School Dinner campaign, add up all of the 10ps collected. Please then send a cheque of your grand total, made payable to the ‘World Food Programme’, to:
The Really Good School Dinner
Children’s Food Trust and School Food Trust
3rd Floor
1 East Parade
Sheffield
S1 2ET
Once we have received cheques from all participating schools, we pass them on to the World Food Programme to turn them into school meals.
More free resources online
Download more, free materials to help you publicise the Really Good School Dinner in school. These are on our marketing and design site, www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/madge (If you don’t have your school’s unique reference number or log-in details handy, simply register as a ‘supporter’ or ‘partner’.)
Materials available include:
- Posters
- Menu grid
- Hunger map
- Collection bucket wrap
- International recipe cards
- Lesson plans
Film clips for schools
Take a look at our YouTube channel at our video featuring celebrities who gave their time free of charge to encourage children to join last year’s campaign, including JLS, The Saturdays, Pixie Lott, Les Ferdinand and Skins star Kaya Scodelario.
www.youtube.com/user/SchoolFoodTrust
Here, you can also watch short films showing some of the children that you could be helping in parts of the developing world
Nyipher, a school girl in Kenya explains the benefits of WFP school meals programme.
About the World Food Programme
As the world’s largest humanitarian aid agency, the World Food Programme relies entirely on donations to continue its vital work.
It provides school meals for more than 22 million children in 68 countries. However, an estimated 66 million school children in 94 developing countries are undernourished and £2.02 billion is needed every year to reach these children with a basic school meal.
For more information, please visit www.wfp.org
