Catholic university bestows its highest honour on Mary’s Meals

At a ceremony held on campus, our founder and CEO, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, was presented with the Poverello Medal, the University’s highest non-academic honour.

Cast in steel to signify simplicity and poverty, the medal acknowledges organisations and individuals who imitate St. Francis of Assisi, ‘Il Poverello’ (the little poor man), through their strong character, practical charity, and service to the poor.

Franciscan University president Father Sean O. Sheridan, TOR, said: “Mary's Meals sets an example for us by following in the footsteps of St. Francis in acts of charity to the poor, the downtrodden, and those abandoned by society in some of the world's most impoverished countries. We are pleased to be awarding the Poverello Medal to such a worthy recipient.”

Mary’s Meals began by feeding just 200 children in Malawi in 2002. Today, we reach 1,035,637 hungry children with a nutritious meal every day they attend school in 12 countries across the world – including Malawi, Liberia, Kenya, Zambia, Haiti and India.

Magnus said: “It is truly humbling that the Franciscan University of Steubenville has chosen to honour Mary’s Meals as an organisation that is ‘following in the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi’.

“I want to thank the Franciscan University for believing, in conferring the Poverello Medal on Mary’s Meals, that the realisation of our vision – that every child should receive at least one good meal every day in their place of education – is possible in this world of plenty.

“It’s wonderful to accept this award on behalf of the thousands of people all around the world who are part of this mission. Thanks to their selfless efforts and acts of love, we are now feeding more than a million children every school day.

“However, with 59 million children around the world out of school and hundreds of millions suffering as a result of chronic hunger, our work is only just beginning. I’d like to invite others to join the Mary’s Meals movement, so that no child today will be without food and no child should miss school because of poverty.”

Previous recipients of the Poverello Medal – which recognises Mary’s Meals for exemplifying “the call of Christ to love the least among us” – include Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day and Jean Vanier.