Maltesers School Campaign “Big Ideas in a Small Heart” is Over
During the pre-school campaign “Big Ideas in a Small Heart”, which took place from 1 August to 30 September, school supplies and funds were collected to be given to the children under the care of Maltesers. This year, donations were collected to support 950 foster children living in large, single-parent and underprivileged families, as well as children attending Maltesers’ Day Care Centres – we currently have 16 Day Care Centres open, which are attended by around 380 children aged 6 to 17 years.
Results: €6,392 worth of charity items collected and €585 in cash donations.
The patron of the campaign, Mrs Diana Nausėdienė, opened the Raseiniai Day Care Centre
For the third year running, the patron of the campaign is the country’s First Lady Diana Nausėdienė. This year she attended the opening of a new Day Care Centre in Raseiniai, where she came with school gifts and warmly congratulated the little ones on the opening and all the Maltesers on the 30th anniversary of their activities. Before Diana’s arrival, the children discussed how best to present their centre – it was decided that they will be their own superhero guides, will show them around their home and will reveal what superpowers they want to achieve here. And First Lady Nausėdienė explained what powers she has and how she could help the children. Raseiniai Children Day Care Centre is ready to welcome not only Lithuanian children, but also children from families evacuated from Afghanistan and to help them adapt to our country.
Companies and organizations – long-standing supporters of the campaign
The Association of Lithuanian Municipalities took part in the collection of school supplies (Vilnius City Municipality was the most proactive and enthusiastic), the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Culture, the Lithuanian Statistical Department, the State Audit Office, the Control of Quality Assessment of Studies, the British Embassy, Vilnius University and more than ten companies that join the campaign every year: Maxima, Roche, SEB, the weekly newspaper Savaitė, Transcom, Sorainen, Duovena, Baltic Ground Services, EMP Recycling, Kayak, etc.
Where the collected goods went
The money collected will be used to buy essential items for special needs that could not be collected during the campaign. And the donated new backpacks, pencils, pens and other stationery items have already reached the children. Books, educational supplies and many of the essentials for the reserve – notebooks, markers, paper, etc. – have gone to the Day Care Centres, so that the children can replenish their supplies on a daily basis. The Day Care Centre managers were pleased that they were able to help families with school supplies during the quarantine period, even though they were working remotely with the children.
A new twist for the campaign
This year is not only a pandemic year for Lithuania, but also a year marked by the migrant crisis. The country currently has more than 1 000 children living in refugee camps, and as many as 500 of them are of pre-school and school age. In order to speed up their integration, the education of these children started on 1 October, so it was decided to collect school supplies for migrant children and take them to the refugee centres in Rukla, Medininkai, Naujininkai (Vilnius) and Pabradė during the last week of the Maltesers’ campaign. Other NGOs also joined the project.
The campaign is now over, and we thank all those who contributed for their kindness and care. A warm THANK YOU on behalf of all of us and every pupil!
For those who want to support financially – LT29 4010 0510 0399 2200
