Beginning in 2002 with a school feeding program in Malawi serving 200 children, Mary’s Meals, a growing global movement, today serves more than 2.4 million children in 5,000 schools in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Around the world, an estimated 309 million people face acute food insecurity and 250 million children are out of school. While the numbers and scale of both problems are daunting, Mary’s Meals addresses childhood hunger and enables access to education in the world’s poorest nations with a simple solution: feed children where they learn.
A fruit of Medjugorje, Mary’s Meals was founded in 2002 by Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow. After a decade of collecting and delivering humanitarian aid from his native Scotland to Bosnia, Magnus realized his life’s calling through a chance meeting with a little boy in Africa.
During an aid stop in Malawi, Magnus met Edward, who told him that he’d like to have enough to eat and to be able to go to school one day. Inspired by those words, Magnus started Mary’s Meals and named it for the Blessed Virgin Mary, who knew what it was like to raise a child in poverty.
The unique school feeding model of Mary’s Meals invites everyone to be part of the solution to child hunger and missed education. Through a community-based feeding program, Mary’s Meals supports in-country partners to source food that integrates with local cultural needs. Volunteer cooks are trained to prepare and serve the meals, and staff members monitor educational impacts. This efficient model makes the program scalable and cost effective: only $25.20 feeds a child for a school year.
School feeding has become a lifeline for millions of children affected by conflicts and displacement, climate and extreme weather. Vulnerable children often bear the burden of poverty and hunger. That’s why Mary’s Meals serves in some of the world’s most hostile and challenging environments, where food insecurity dictates everyday life and the need is acute.
Thousands of supporters, donors and volunteers around the world help to make school feeding possible. In Columbus, the diocese has a deep connection with Mary’s Meals. Supporters have spoken at mission appeals, raised funds and sponsored events such as last month’s Concert for a Cause. Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow has spoken twice at the Columbus Catholic Women’s Conference and made a presentation at Columbus St. Charles Preparatory School.
“Mary’s Meals as a provider of hope – in the life of one child and in the world more broadly – is more important than ever. And so are each of our actions in support of this mission – no matter how small they might feel to us. They are not small. They are truly enormous in the life of that child,” he said.
To learn more about Mary’s Meals, please visit www.marysmealsusa.org