This week in our school community: 20 September 2024

Harvest hope for our local and global community’  

Harvest hope for our local and global community

As you may have already heard, Hope, particularly journeys towards and with the theme of hope as part of them, is key to everything this academic year.  The Catholic Church will begin its jubilee year in a few months with the motto, ‘Pilgrims of hope’, and during the current Lasallian month of peace we are asked to focus on a pilgrimage towards peace.  Next week begins the time of the year traditionally seen as Harvest time.  For us communities of faith it is not so much a time to ‘bring in the harvest’ but a time to share the harvest.  We naturally associate the season with Christian giving and generosity, considering the least amongst us and sharing what we can.

This year we would like to consider how we can bring hope to people locally and globally by supporting our nearby Food Bank as we do each year, but also by collating monetary donations for Mary’s Meals.

Hope locally

The custom of donating non-perishable food items is something deeply ingrained in Christian giving at Harvest time.  We are proud to listen to our Food Bank who have spoken to those unexpectedly struggling so that the items we donate truly make a difference.  When considering Catholic Social Teaching, this has subsidiarity and dignity of the person at the heart of our almsgiving, which is why listed below we again have the items they require most.  Any donations you make can be left in the school Chapel by students over the next two weeks.  The following is a message from Bath Foodbank and I’m sure you’ll notice that there is an appalling number of children having to rely upon emergency food parcels right on our doorstep.  All we can do to support this need will be gratefully received.

“In 2023/24 Bath Foodbank was able to give emergency food parcels to 5242 people, 1352 of whom were children.  On average we have seen 50 households per month accessing foodbank support for the first time.  57,000kg of food was distributed and we can only provide this support with the kindness of our local community and the schools especially.  Donations of food around Harvest Festival make such a difference to Bath Foodbank’s ability to support people and families in times of crisis.”

Tinned tomatoes, tinned vegetarian meals, tea bags (40-80 size), tinned fruit, instant mash, tinned custard, tinned rice pudding, long life juice, milk (UHT), pasta sauce (jars), instant coffee.

Hope Globally

In aiming to bring hope to young people, who through no fault of their own, are not accessing the same fundamental rights all children deserve, we would also like to help those globally who are on the bottom rung of the ladder.  Specifically, we are talking here about children in 18 of the poorest countries in the world who are so deeply entrenched in poverty that they cannot go to school because their daily hunger restricts their ability to learn.  Mary’s Meals is a beautiful charity founded this century in Scotland with the aim of providing a stable meal a day so that children have the energy to concentrate in Malawi.  It started with 200 students; last year they fed 2.5 million children.  The premise of the charity is simple, £19.15 a year will feed a child for every day of education throughout the year, giving them hope of a future out of poverty.  You can read lots on their website -https://www.marysmeals.org.uk/our-story.

Therefore, we leave it with our staff, our young people and families this Harvest time to reflect on where you can respond to the needs of the most vulnerable this year.  Whether it’s one additional jar of pasta sauce when you do the weekly shop, students forsaking the ‘treat’ they stop for on the way home from school so that they can give that money or food, or donating a couple of pounds on the school gateway app to Mary’s Meals.  Please do challenge your children to choose love and generosity towards our neighbour – how can they be involved and affected by the decision to donate in some way, rather than simply asking parents to donate £1 or give them a tin.

As a Christian community we must always be reminded of Jesus’ powerful and challenging words that are directed to us this day just as much as 2000 years ago, “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.” (Matthew 25:35)

Mr Robinson

Lay Chaplain