Mary's Meals reaching over 1.1 million children every day

A SCOTTISH charity is now feeding 1.1 million of the world's poorest children.

A pupil from a school in Grand Cape Mount County, Liberia recieving her Mary's Meals from a volunteer parent.

Mary’s Meals provides daily school meals to chronically hungry children on four continents.

Serving the food in a place of education encourages children to attend and learn, giving them the chance to break free from the poverty in the future.

The charity has also confirmed that its global average cost to feed a child for a whole school year will remain at just £12.20 throughout 2016.

Mary's Meals

In May 2015, Mary’s Meals announced the achievement of reaching more than one million children worldwide with a daily meal in their place of education.

Since then, the charity has been able to welcome more than 65,500 new children to its global school feeding programme.

Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, CEO and founder of Mary’s Meals, said: “The difference that a nutritious meal served in a place of education makes to a hungry child is remarkable. In all of the countries where we work, I have seen first-hand the transformation that can take place when a child is given the opportunity to learn with a full stomach.

Mary's Meals

“The happy news that more than 1,101,000 children are now receiving Mary’s Meals is all thanks to the tireless efforts of our army of supporters around the world who give whatever they can – time, money, skills, and prayer – to help us reach more hungry children with daily meals in school and give them the chance to thrive.

“All of these little acts of love bring us closer to realising our vision that every child receives one daily meal in their place of education and that those who have more than they need, share with those who lack even the most basic things.

“There are still around 59 million children out of school in the world today, and thousands die each day due to hunger-related causes. This is a scandal in our world of plenty, and lets us know that we have much more work still to do.”

Mary’s Meals began in Malawi in 2002, feeding just 200 children in one primary school. The charity’s global school feeding programme now reaches across 12 countries, with each child receiving a nutritious daily meal and an education that offers their best hope of escaping poverty.