Support a Child for €5 a Month
Posted on 05. Dec, 2019, in Charity, Christian Values, Faith and Justice, Humanitarian AidComments Off on Support a Child for €5 a Month
An Irish parish group in Dublin which has linked up with a parish in Zambia by feeding children and supporting their school is now looking to expand on their success. The parish of Star of the Sea in Sandymount has been supporting the development of St Mary’s Community School in Matero, a Jesuit parish.
The Jesuits there, including Leonard Chiti SJ who once worked in Dublin, helped to rebuild the parish school ten years ago when 75 orphans were attending on a somewhat haphazard basis. With the support of Sandymount-Matero group, money was secured to feed the pupils on a daily basis, and to pay for those cooking the food as well as for the principal and teachers in the school.
According to James Meenan, founder of the Sandymount-Matero project, the programme has grown dramatically in its ten years, and the feeding component now aims to sustain over 550 pupils as opposed to an original 75.
In this interview with Pat Coyle he outlines the origins and growth of the project, with particular regard to the funding model. He explains that as little as €5 a month will give them educational and nutritional prospects that could last a life time.
The long-term commitment allows the project leaders to plan for the future, but they never could have predicted just how successful the feeding and educational project would be. So almost a decade later, James says the project needs to boost its funding. “The optimal means for this is through smaller but sustainable monthly donations,” he said. “However, we are happy for all donations, particularly until we can increase the monthly ones.”
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