Mennonite
Central
Committee

School Kit Packing

School kits are our most requested item. They are given primarily to refugee and displaced children, helping students and teachers add some normalcy to disrupted lives. Also areas that experienced natural disasters receive them with joy. MCC sends school kits for children in places such as Bosnia, Haiti, Honduras, Iraq, Liberia, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine and to poorly funded schools in Canada and the United States.

 

Decide what quantity of school kits you wish to pack then purchase the appropriate number of items for that quantity. You will "sell" school kit supplies and shoestrings to adults and children attending the event. These "purchased" items will be placed with like items on two 8' tables. An alternative method of procuring school kit supplies is to invite several local congregations to supply these.

At an advertised time, children will gather for a school kit packing hour. They will watch the MCC school kit video, hear a story about the value of a pencil (see Love in Action Manual), consider how their school experience is different than many children's experiences in other places. Include as many steps as possible such as removing all packaging to stretch out the packing aspect as it will be completed very quickly.

Note: inserting the double shoestrings into the casing is a difficult task for children to accomplish.

 

Options

1. Set two 8' tables for sewing school kit bags. One table is for cutting bags to the proper size. The other table will have several portable sewing machines. Children, age 8 and older, can be invited to try their hand at cutting and sewing a school kit. Invite parent supervision of this activity and have several adults available for those without parent supervision. This is recommended only for small sale events.
2. Use an MCC logo stencil (enclosed) or other decorative stencils. Before the appointed packing hour, children will stencil the school kit bags with fabric markers. Discuss what the logo means.
3. Do the same activity with health kits.

 

School Kit Contents

See School Kits for contents and directions.

 

Resources

Gifts to Share: School Kits (video/DVD)

Fabric and sewing supplies
Available from MCC's material resource centers.