PUPILS at Lomond School in Helensburgh have organised the collection of almost 100 filled backpacks for donation to the Mary’s Meals charity.

For the second year running the school’s S3 business management class coordinated the campaign in association with their studies on the third sector.

They presented at assembly, ran an advertising campaign creating awareness of the required contents for the backpacks, conducted weekly collections from form classes and filled and organised the bags in preparation for the collection last week.

Karen Ferguson, teacher in charge of business and economics, commented: “The Mary’s Meals backpack campaign is an excellent project to participate in as it takes time and commitment from the whole class.

"The actual process lasts for a number of months and the pupils feel a great sense of achievement by the end.

"It really is about children helping children, and charity work is something we do a great deal of at Lomond.

I am very proud of the pupils. There is a good deal of theory within the Business Management course, and it can be brought to life through active programs like Mary’s Meals.”

The business management course supports and contextualises areas such as the third sector, marketing (research and promotion), operations (especially stock management and quality) and finance (such as sources of finance and funding)”.

With the assistance of the S5 pupils, and the generosity of the school as a whole, the team were able to hand over almost 100 completed backpacks to Mary’s Meals for distribution to children who so desperately need to be able to attend school and escape the cycle of poverty they are in.

Mary’s Meals is a Scottish based charity formed by two brothers from Argyll, Magnus and Fergus MacFarlane-Barrow, and its aim is to ensure that every child receives one daily meal in their place of education.

Today, the charity is feeding 1,230,171 of the world’s poorest children every day they attend school. Mary Meals have numerous campaigns include World Porridge Day, Sponsor a School and the Backpack Campaign.

Pupils involved in the project said: “It has been hard work pulling the project together and creating the awareness but has really been worth it.

"It’s great to be able to practise what we are learning in a real life setting and be able to help others at the same time.

"We’ve really enjoyed helping to make the backpacks and we would love to see their faces when they open them.”