Encouraging children into the classroom – one meal at a time

Serving nutritious daily meals to children at their place of education is the main focus of our work. We partner with schools and communities to deliver our feeding programs, with school leaders ensuring a safe area for meals to be prepared, helping to engage the local community, and coordinating volunteers to run the program.

In this article, school directors Jose, Samuel, and Naicy talk about how Mary’s Meals gives hope to children who attend their schools and why hope is important to the children, their families, and their communities.

“Hope gives them strength to keep going”

Jose Azar, head teacher at Tabitha Community Center in North Lebanon, works daily to support children facing immense challenges. Many have missed years of schooling, struggle with trauma from displacement, and live under economic pressure that sometimes forces them into work. “Language barriers, limited resources, and social isolation reduce their confidence and motivation, making it difficult for children to stay engaged and succeed in learning,” Jose explains.

Through her role, Jose helps to ensure that the Mary’s Meals’ school feeding programme is delivered safely and fairly to every child. She also encourages attendance and raises awareness among parents about the importance of nutrition for learning. “For many children, it may be the only proper meal they have in a day,” she explains. “So, it not only improves their health but also helps them focus and learn better.”

Jose has seen how reliable meals not only bring nourishment but also hope. They reassure families that their children are cared for and create a safe, supportive environment where they can thrive. “Hope is important to the children and their families because it gives them motivation and strength to keep going despite difficult circumstances,” she says.

The school feeding program gives Jose hope as a teacher, knowing that children are cared for beyond the classroom. “When students come well-fed, they are healthier, more focused, and more eager to learn,” she says. “This not only improves their education but also inspires me to keep supporting them.” Her greatest hope is that every child in her community can grow, learn, and build a brighter future for themselves and their families.

“Hope is important because it builds the future”

At the Free Pentecostal Global Mission High School in Liberia, Principal Samuel Morris sees his role as both leader and caretaker. “We call ourselves the masters of everything,” he says, explaining how he supervises the staff and pupils each day. Samuel also ensures that the food provided by Mary’s Meals is prepared safely, and that the children are fed with dignity and care.

He explains that the school feeding program has transformed life at school. “Most of our students come on campus very hungry – some of them might only have one meal a day. The hope Mary’s Meals is restoring in our children is meaningful because it gives them courage to sit in the classroom.”

And he believes that hope is essential not only for students but also for families, who face daily struggles to send their children to school. “[Hope] is important because it builds the future,” he says. “It gives hope and courage to our students and our parents because most of them are frustrated to send a child to school.”

Looking ahead, Samuel hopes that the children at his school will be transformed academically, and that his pupils will become ambassadors of change for their communities.

“Mary’s Meals gives children hope”

Naicy Fenia Chunguane is the school director at Tindzawene Primary School in Mozambique. She has witnessed firsthand the challenges facing children and families in her community. The greatest difficulty is the recurring drought, which brings food shortages and financial hardship. “Food shortages impact teaching and learning,” she explains. “Because when [families] can't afford school supplies, the school has to provide them.”

Despite these challenges, Naicy works tirelessly to support the Mary’s Meals school feeding programme, which provides a daily nutritious meal for her pupils. She mobilises local mothers to volunteer in preparing meals and reinforces the training volunteers receive on the importance of hygiene to ensure that the food remains safe and healthy.

And she sees the impact of the program every day. “Mary’s Meals gives children hope. They feel motivated to come to school, knowing there will be a meal,” she says. For Naicy, hope is essential – not only for the students but also for their families. It encourages attendance, commitment, and belief in education. “For our children, I hope to see them educated, achieve good academic performance and become professionals in the future,” Naicy says with pride.

This Christmas, for less than $32, you can give a child the gift of daily meals for an entire school year. It’s more than just a donation – it’s a promise that a child can eat every day in school for an entire school year, giving them, their families and their local community hope of a brighter future.