The Tribune

TWO HUNDRED students will head back to school next week sporting black McDonald’s designer-worthy backpacks filled with supplies they received when they were treated to wishes and dishes thanks to community partners.

It is the fifth year that St Andrew’s Kirk and McDonald’s franchise holder DanBrad have come together to organise and host the back-to-school event, providing lunch, life lessons and school supplies for students from Bain and Grant’s Town.

This year’s back-to-school party was held last week at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Kirk, Shirley Street.

“We started with a few dozen students who often visited the church or attended summer camp when we held it there,” said Rev Bryn MacPhail, of St Andrew’s Kirk. “The community project has grown since then but it still retains the same warmth, filling the church with young people who themselves are filled with hopes and dreams and we’re hoping that what we are doing will help make it a bit easier for them to achieve those dreams.”

DanBrad President Earla Bethel said the entire company gets behind this project. “We have McDonald’s team members who usually fill orders or prepare Happy Meals volunteering to fill backpacks and serve lunch at the church,” she said. “These young people are our neighbours and all we were doing on the Thursday before school starts is making sure our neighbours are okay, that they have a good time and get a good start to the new school term. We think of it as feeding body and soul.”

St. Andrew’s Kirk, built in 1810, is one of the country’s oldest churches and like others in the historic district, has long anchored the neighbourhood that once boasted a flourishing small business and entertainment economy and in recent years has attracted the attention of those who believe it is ripe for redevelopment and home to rich history.