BUDE Infant School has raised enough money for over 1,000 meals for poverty stricken children across the world, following a series of fundraising events with the school’s food supplier, Ilfracombe Foods.

At Bude Infant School, the kitchen enjoys special menu days to help raise funds for the World Food Programme. The programme’s ultimate objective is to eliminate the need for food aid; provide free school meals for less fortunate children, and put an end to child hunger and malnutrition.

It is the world’s largest humanitarian agency, and funded entirely by voluntary donations.

In October, the school held its first ‘International Dish Tasting Day’, providing a mild and hot curry for the children to try, alongside their normal school meal.

The children were able to experience a different taste and culture, which is key to the countries across the globe that the World Food Programme supports.

The school also held a non-school uniform day, where, for a small donation, children could wear yellow if they preferred mild curry, or red if they preferred it hot!

On this one occasion, they managed to raise enough money to pay for 650 meals. At just 20p, a meal for one child in a third world country can be paid for.

The school’s food supplier, Ilfracombe Foods, who provided the curry pastes, raised enough for a further 1,380 meals from the sale of cases of curry paste.

In January, the school decided to raise awareness of breakfast — the most important meal of the day! Staff and children celebrated National Breakfast Week on Friday, January 27, when instead of their usual school menu, a variety of tasty breakfast dishes were served to show the many different foods available to start the day off. Just 14 children out of the whole school did not have a school meal that day!

The choices ranged from bacon and eggs, omelettes, waffles, croissants, fresh fruit, yoghurts and much more. This was also a non-school uniform day, when the children wore ‘pjs’ to school for a small donation to compliment the breakfast theme. Enough money for a further 700 meals was raised.

In total, pupils and staff raised enough money for 1,350 meals for poverty stricken children across the world. There are posters displayed in the school to show the fundraising progress during the year, and the school hopes to have more International Dish Tasting Days and celebrate other important food dates, helping to provide as many meals as possible for less fortunate school children, whose school meal may be the only food they have to eat all day.