The problem - world hunger

Mary’s Meals provides daily meals to chronically hungry children in their local school. In this way the hungry child is encouraged to attend school and, through education gain a better future for himself and his communities. Today more people die from hunger related diseases today than they do from HIV/AIDS, malaria or tuberculosis combined. In a world where there is enough food for everybody, hunger is still the biggest threat to health.

Children are particularly vulnerable. Hunger kills millions of them each year. It also stunts their growth – and their dreams. Hungry children think about survival, not about going to school. In order to survive they have to labour, whether in the fields or on the streets. Even if they do make it into the classroom, hunger will affect their ability to learn. All of this suffering could be prevented.

How Mary's Meals helps

An education can set a child free from poverty in adult life. And not only that child but his children too. To gain an education children first need to attend school and then be given the opportunity to learn. Mary's Meals is not only feeding children, but it is also allowing the children to attend school and to be educated:

• Daily Attendance Improves. Poor children are more likely to fall ill or be needed by their families for chores and so they often miss a lot of school. Mary’s Meals brings children to the classroom every day.
• 

Concentration improves
. Mary’s Meals removes the gnawing pain of hunger, leaving children free to turn their attention to class work.


• Education of girls is encouraged. Girls from poor backgrounds are more likely to miss out on school than boys. Poor families often expect girls to help in the household. Mary's Meals helps girls attend school and realize their full potential. 

• Better Grades. Mary’s Meals provides the conditions necessary for 
learning and so improves pupils performance.

The stories

Mary's Meals provides daily meals in school for over 400,000 children in 14 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. This not only addresses the immediate needs of hungry children by giving them a

daily meal, it also allows those children to receive an education that can provide an escape from poverty for themselves and their communities.

Mary's Meals is full of human stories - tragic, joyful, inspirational, funny. Please visit the the stories page of the Charity's website where many of these are documented.

The charity

The charity was born in Malawi in 2002. It is administered by a small team in Glasgow and a huge number of volunteers around the world.

Its vision is that all those who have more than they need share with those who lack even the most basic things, and that every child receives one daily meal in their place of education.

Volunteering is fundamental to the way the charity works. As a result, no more than 6p in every £1 donated needs to be spent on fund raising, and only around 1p in every £1 donated is spent on governance and administration. Known as "the charity that operates out of a tin shed", an amazing 93p in every £1 donated is spent on actual charitable activities.

Next >