1.4 million servings of hope

Thanks to incredible supporters like you, we’ve started feeding at 40 schools in Zimbabwe and have welcomed 197,363 new children to the Mary’s Meals family in the last year!

Our founder, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, said: “Every child welcomed into our Mary’s Meals family gives cause for celebration and I am delighted that we are now reaching children in Zimbabwe for the first time. It is incredible to think that more than 1.4 million children in 18 countries now enjoy these meals, served with love, each day at school.

“I am so grateful to everyone who makes this wonderful work possible through generous gifts of money, skills, time and prayer. Your kindness is helping children in some of the world’s poorest communities to gain a precious education, which opens the door to the possibility of a brighter future.”

With the help of volunteers from the local community, we’re now feeding 18,435 vulnerable children at 40 schools in the impoverished Tsholotsho District of Zimbabwe.

Once referred to as the ‘breadbasket of Africa’, years of violent upheaval, forced land distribution and drought have had a devastating impact on many farming families, leading to widespread hunger in parts of the country. 

The mug of vitamin-enriched Mary’s Meals porridge helps hungry children like 12-year-old Nomthandazo to make the most of their education. 

She told us: “Some children don’t come to school because they are working to help their parents. Some are too hungry to learn. Life would not be easy without school and the Mary’s Meals food that we receive there.”

 “We get energy after eating and are able to write faster. I like learning new things. I hope to get knowledge so that I can brighten my future. School will help me to get a job.”

Your kindness helps children like Nomthandazo in some of the world’s poorest communities to gain an education, giving them the chance of a brighter future.