Back2School - for children in Direct Provision

ECIYC website  DONATE via PayPal  Every Child is Your Child is a Limerick-based community group in its fourth year running. Our goal is to assist parents of school-going age children living in Direct Provision with back-to-school-related costs. Currently, there are over 2,000 children living in the Direct Provision system in Ireland.  Back2School Campaign We help provide approximately 2,000 school-going children living in Direct Provision with essential back-to-school supplies through generous donations to the Back2School campaign. This year, with COVID-19 restrictions, our usual fundraising events are impossible, so we set up this GoFundMe to share our purpose with you in the hopes you can offer a donation and help continue this important service we provide. Online donations (and generous donors or businesses) are our best chance to meet our goal of helping children living in Direct Provision return to school with necessary supplies and fees provided for. Expenses Parents Face Direct Provision is intended to provide for the welfare of asylum seekers and their families as they await decisions on their international protection applications in Ireland. Around 40% have been waiting for more than five years. Asylum seekers live on an allowance of €38.80 per week and €29.80 per child per week. People living in Direct Provision are not entitled to any social welfare payments and the once-a-year back-to-school allowance is a small drop in the ocean to cover back-to-school related costs. It is a huge burden and challenge for parents, and for children, especially those of school-going age.  Parents in Ireland are spending almost €1,400 getting their child ready for secondary school and almost €950 to send them to primary school, according to a survey from the Irish League of Credit Unions. Parents said that in order to afford the basics, two-thirds will drop extra curricular activities, while 30% will not be able to give money for school trips. Under the best of circumstances, back-to-school expenses are challenging for families (related RTE News article ). For parents living in Direct Provision, they must manage these expenses on a living allowance of €38.80 a week, which is impossible.   How YOU Can Help We have set up this GoFundMe for our Back2School campaign because we are unable to host our annual dinner and cannot facilitate donation drop-off locations due to COVID-19 restrictions. We have until mid-August to raise the necessary funds. This campaign and your financial support are how you can help us still reach our mission to assist parents living in Direct Provision who face particular difficulties in meeting education-related costs. Your donation to this GoFundMe goes to cover these back-to-school essentials for children in Direct Provision: • School fees (including book rental, insurance, arts and craft fees, swimming lesson fees) • New uniforms • Workbooks • Stationery • Backpacks Please Donate Join us in raising our goal of €5,000 in time for the essential supplies, uniforms, and stationery to be purchased. Your contribution of any amount directly supports our 2020 Back2School campaign and helps to meet the needs of school-going children living in the Direct Provision system in Ireland. This campaign is our only hope to provide 2,000 children living in Direct Provision with essential back-to-school supplies. Even a donation like €5 makes a difference. If you cannot donate, please consider sharing the link to this GoFundMe on your social media profiles to help raise awareness. If you work for or own a business that manufacturers or sells school stationery supplies or backpacks, please contact us through our website if you might be able to donate items or provide items at-cost or wholesale. Every Child Is Your Child is not just the name of our group, but also what we represent. Let us show the children living in Direct Provision they are not forgotten, but instead that they are valued and deserving of the essential tools to pursue their education and to be children. Thank you for taking the time to learn about our Back2School campaign and how you can help school-going children living in Direct Provision.