For 10 more days, you can participate in the charity campaign “Let’s help prepare for school together!”

For 10 more days, until 27th of August, people can support low-income Latvian families and Ukrainian refugee families by donating new school supplies and financial resources to prepare their children for the new school year. At the moment, school bags, stationery and other school supplies are being donated as part of the “Let’s help prepare for school together!” campaign. But school clothes, sports shoes, lunch boxes and refillable water bottles are still on the list of most needed items.

Given the economic conditions and soaring prices, preparing for school is a particularly difficult time this year. According to AKROPOLE research* the financial possibilities of the Latvian residents surveyed this year are limited compared to the budget that is actually needed to buy all school supplies. 41% of respondents said they could allocate up to EUR 100 to prepare their child for school this year, 32% said between EUR 100 and EUR 250, and only 8% said between EUR 250 and EUR 500.

As for how big a budget would actually be needed, half as many respondents (20%) said that a EUR 100 would be enough this year, while a higher percentage (36%) said that between EUR 100 and EUR 250 would be needed. The biggest increase is seen in the EUR 250–500 category, with almost a quarter, or 22%, of respondents. The disparity between the budget available this year and what is actually needed to prepare a child for school points to a significant “budget gap” that could affect the material level of school preparedness of many children, thus also affecting the upcoming learning process.

“Every day we receive applications from families in need, more often from the regions and from large families. When we ask these families about their needs, we find that the most needed items are sports shoes, stationery and, of course, school bags, which are a particular need in large families where several children will be starting school. We thank our partners and donators who have already donated on Ziedot.lv or filled the special donation boxes in the AKROPOLE Alfa and AKROPOLE Rīga shopping centres. We also hope for further public support and response so that we can help even more families,” explains Rūta Dimanta, Head of the Charity Organisation Ziedot.lv.

“Every year we see that the ‘Let’s help prepare for school together!’ donation campaign is gaining more and more support from the public, so we hope that this year, when support for families in need is especially necessary, we can work together to bring joy to more young pupils. Our survey data shows that 43% of people will donate or plan to donate to prepare children for school, so we encourage everyone to help children who may be without the necessities for school on 1 September this year,” says Artūrs Bernhards, Manager of AKROPOLE Alfa.

Anyone can bring their donations to AKROPOLE Rīga (Maskavas iela 257) and AKROPOLE Alfa (Brīvības gatve 372) or purchase them in the shopping centres and leave them at designated charity boxes with the caption “Let’s help prepare for school together!”. You can also support financially by donating by bank transfer at www.ziedot.lv, under “Let’s help prepare for school together!” or at the donation boxes in both shopping centres. The amount of the donation is voluntary.

The charity campaign is organised by AKROPOLE shopping and entertainment centres in cooperation with the charity organisation Ziedot.lv, the research agency Norstat and the parent organisation Mammamuntetiem.lv. The charity campaign is organised with the aim of helping pupils from low-income Latvian families and Ukrainian refugee families better prepare for the new school year.

The campaign will end on 27 August. Ziedot.lv will hand over all donated items and proceeds to those families who cannot provide their children with school items due to financial reasons.