The latest school year has come to a close with nearly 50,000 breakfasts given to public school students by the Coalition for the Protection of Children.

It marks the agency’s ninth year running its breakfast programme — and, appropriately enough, a ninth school was added to its roster.

Sheelagh Cooper, chairwoman of the agency, thanked donors both corporate and private, along with the programme’s team of volunteers, for helping local students to get the best start to their school days.

“In addition to our Breakfast for Every Child programme, more than 250 families have benefited from our food storehouse where families can come in and pick up basic necessities for cooking at home,” she said.

“The need for both of these programmes have grown exponentially since we began in 2007.” Summer does not mean rest for the coalition, which expects to subsidise around 100 young people for camp — and aims to provide lunches too.Ms Cooper reported “great success” from people collaborating with work colleagues to gather non-perishable food once a week, with the coalition stopping by to collect. “This has gone a long way to helping us deal with the increase in demand in our storehouse,” she said. “It’s a great way for people who want to help to get involved. Anyone who would like to collect food can e-mail us at cpc@logic.bm or call 295-1150.”