People’s Postcode Lottery Award Mary’s Meals £200k

Mary’s Meals has been awarded £200,000 by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

Clara Govier, Head of Charities and Communications at Peoples Postcode Lottery; Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, founder and CEO of Marys Meals; and Sanjay Singh, Trusts Manager at Peoples Postcode Lottery at the shed, which acts as Magnus office and the charitys headquarters in Dalmally, Argyll

This is the latest in a series of charity awards made by players of the charity lottery, which is in its tenth anniversary year and has already given £91 million to charitable causes across Great Britain and internationally.

The funds awarded to Mary’s Meals will enable the charity, which feeds over one million of the world’s poorest children, across 12 countries in the developing world, to expand.

By providing a nutritious daily meal in school, Mary’s Meals attracts chronically hungry children into the classroom where they receive an education that can be their route out of poverty.

Mary’s Meals works in countries including Malawi, Liberia, Kenya, Zambia, Haiti, India, South Sudan, Ecuador, Burma, Benin, Thailand and Uganda.

Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, CEO and Founder of Mary’s Meals, said: “We are hugely grateful to be receiving support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

“Mary’s Meals reached the milestone of feeding over one million children across 12 countries in Spring this year, however, with 59 million children in the world still out of school and hungry, I believe this work has just begun.

“Our new relationship with players of People’s Postcode Lottery is one more step towards helping these poverty-stricken countries across the world.”

Zambia is just one such country where Mary’s Meals is making a big difference. Fifteen-year-old Daniel, is visually impaired and attends the Magwero School for the Blind in the Chipata district of Zambia. He loves having Mary’s Meals at school.

He said: “I was much thinner and weaker before I got Mary’s Meals at school. I used to go hungry but now I eat every day and I really appreciate the porridge.”

The charity has also been described as a godsend by David Chaw a headteacher at Chambawa Primary School also in Chipata. The primary school serves children from two villages and 49 farms.

He said “If Mary’s Meals was not here many children would not eat as there is no food at home and children struggle with hunger. Since Mary’s Meals came to the school, 315 children have enrolled and more are progressing from grade 7 to grade 8 because they are stronger. School completion rates are normally low so this is good news.”

Clara Govier, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery added: “We are delighted that players of People’s Postcode Lottery are able to help fund Mary’s Meals with a £200,000 cheque. Mary’s Meals does such fantastic work in the countries that it operates and we can’t wait to see the impact of the funding on the charity.”