LONDON: The singer-and-actress flew to South America on Friday to launch her Blessings in a Backpack scheme there after receiving "an amazing invitation" from Bogota Mayor Samuel Moreno to visit children and participate in a vaccination campaign.

The scheme - which currently serves 26,000 children from 106 schools in America and Canada - will see

3,000 knapsacks of food to poor children in a district south of the capital city.

Speaking about the campaign, Hilary said: "We've been working for four years feeding children over the weekends. They invited us to come here, and we got our first school in Bogota."

Hilary and USA Harvest founder Stan Curtis started Blessings in a Backpack for children who get their best meals at school. Every Friday, the disadvantaged youngsters are given bags of food to take home and share with their families when they are away from their main source of nutrition.

Hilary - who is currently filming six episodes of US TV series 'Gossip Girl' before shooting a remake of 'Bonnie and Clyde' - said she only has time to visit Colombia because of work commitments.