As part of its triple-bottom line reporting, Woolworths has announced the results of its participation in the nationwide MySchool programme. This initiative, which involves a number of retail partners, has raised and distributed R23 million to schools to date. Of this, Woolworths has contributed R14.8 million since 1999 of which R 8.3 million was raised in the last financial year – July 2004 to June 2005. Funds for the project are raised when customers swipe their MySchool cards with any purchases they make at Woolworths stores countrywide. MySchool card holders choose the schools that they would like to support when they sign up with the programme and Woolworths makes a percentage donation of each sale to the beneficiary schools. The money raised by MySchool is used to fund much-needed developments at schools throughout South Africa. Brian Frost, Chairman of the Woolworths Trust and Non Executive Director of Woolworths points out that this is just one aspect of their commitment to uplifting education in South Africa: “Over the past few years, Woolworths, through the Woolworths Trust, has also added unique value to the MySchool project through our innovative Making The Difference initiative. This is a natural extension of the MySchool programme that enables Woolworths to share our extensive knowledge of good food, nutrition and healthy living with school communities.” Making The Difference was launched in 2004 and targets Grade 4 learners, educators and parents through expert teacher resource packs, experiential learning outings to Woolworths’ business units and its suppliers and parent talks. These activities represent a significant investment on the part of Woolworths that goes beyond their retail MySchool spend. To date, Woolworths has committed R1.7million to the MySchool/ Making The Difference nutrition programme. The growth and development of ‘Making The Difference’ in 2005 has included extending the reach of the programme from 300 schools in the 2nd phase to 1000 schools across the country in 2006. A third of these schools are under-resourced schools put forward by the Woolworths Trust. 2005 has also seen Woolworths commit a further R800 000 to the development of the ‘Making The Difference through Design’ education resource guide. This resource guide will comprise of 23 modules that will be used by educators in a new Further Education and Training (FET) subject in Design for Grades 10. Woolworths has developed this resource guide in association with the Department of Education, Design Indaba and Sappi, using input from many of South Africa’s leading designers and creative people. In line with government’s call for the business sector to support the upliftment of education in South Africa, Woolworths and the Woolworths Trust will continue to engage directly and meaningfully with our school communities.