Grantham KGGS girls send toiletry bags to the Middle East

Kind-hearted pupils from Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School have been collecting women’s hygiene products to send to vulnerable women in Syria.

Over 360 pupils took part in the project in support of registered charity ‘Samara’s Aid’, which provides medical aid, clothes and care packs for babies and families to help try and relieve some of the pain and suffering of the displaced people in Syria, many of whom flee their homes with either no or very few belongings.

The Year 8 and 9 pupils worked together to collect a variety of products including soap bars, underwear, deodorant, toothbrushes and sanitary towels and placed them in ‘dignity’ bags, which the school helped make.

Form tutor Juliet Flynn, who is leading the project, said: “My form group hosted an assembly to Years 8 and 9 in September, in which they introduced the charity, its activities and talked about the dignity bags. They divided items between each of the 12 form groups and asked each pupil within that form to bring in a particular item. Each bag had to contain all 13 items from a list that had been provided, which also included nail clippers, panty liners, sponges and face cream. My form then collected, stored, counted and packed each item.”

The pupils’ managed to fill 30 ‘dignity’ bags, which have now been delivered to the regional collection point in Beverley, East Yorkshire, where they were loaded into a shipping container ready to be shipped to the Middle East in January.

Juliet added: “Everyone was extremely enthusiastic about the project and felt great empathy for the many women and young girls who have no toiletries at all.”

The school hopes the collection will become an annual event.

For more information, visit: www.samarasaidappeal.org/dignity-bags