By Melita Jose<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mary\u2019s Meals grew out of a charity called Scottish International Relief (SIR). SIR was set up after Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow and his brother Fergus took aid from their home in Scotland to Bosnia-Herzegovina during the conflict in 1992.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the next 10 years, SIR expanded, building homes for abandoned children in Romania, helping returning refugees in Liberia by setting up mobile clinics, and continuing to deliver material aid to Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as funding several additional projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SIR relied heavily on the generosity of local people in the village of Dalmally in Argyll, Scotland, who diligently donated food, blankets and other items of aid, which were then stored in their family shed. Interestingly, that same shed still serves as the global headquarters of Mary\u2019s Meals to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mary\u2019s Meals campaign started in 2002 when Magnus visited Malawi during a famine and met a mother dying from AIDS. When he asked her eldest son, Edward, what his dreams were in life, he simply replied, \u201cI want to have enough food to eat and to go to school one day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That very moment sparked a flame and served as a key part of the inspiration that led to the founding of Mary\u2019s Meals, which began by feeding just 200 children in Malawi in 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The charity itself is named in honour of Mary, who was not only the mother of Jesus but also brought up her own child in poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What does Mary’s Meals do?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mary\u2019s Meals is an incredible organisation that provides life-changing school meals to children living in some of the world\u2019s poorest and most deprived communities. The promise of one good meal at school helps to encourage starving children into classrooms so that they can gain an education and hope for better opportunities in the future. They serve an astonishing number of over three million children every school day in an attempt to tackle world hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What can you do to support them? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, millions of children across the globe still suffer and go without a meal for days. This is what Mary\u2019s Meals encourages us to do to support their mission: due to their low-cost approach, by donating just \u00a319.15, Mary\u2019s Meals can feed a single child for a whole school year. A guaranteed meal for a child every day they simply go to school. It is astonishing to believe that just one donation of \u00a319.15 can truly be the difference between a child living or dying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How you can get involved?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Other than making a donation, there are several ways that you can help support their cause:<\/p>\n\n\n\n (1) To volunteer, you can sign up by dialling this number 0800 698 1212, or click on this link: https:\/\/www.marysmeals.org.uk\/get-involved\/volunteer#sign-up <\/p>\n\n\n\n (2) If you would rather fundraise: https:\/\/www.marysmeals.org.uk\/get-involved\/fundraising <\/p>\n\n\n\n (3) Support someone else\u2019s fundraising project: https:\/\/www.marysmeals.org.uk\/fundraising#\/?page=1<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even something which may seem as small as praying for those living in poverty or yet to receive aid from Mary\u2019s Meals can provide children with strength, knowing that they are being thought of in hard times. If you would like to pray for children suffering throughout the world today but do not know where to begin, perhaps try praying the Mary\u2019s Meals prayer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n By Melita Jose Mary\u2019s Meals grew out of a charity called Scottish International Relief (SIR). SIR was set up after Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow and his brother Fergus took aid from their home in Scotland to Bosnia-Herzegovina during the conflict in 1992. Over the next 10 years, SIR expanded, building homes for abandoned children in Romania, helping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4611,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4609","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-news","9":"post-with-thumbnail","10":"post-with-thumbnail-large"},"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marys-Meals-1.png",1279,736,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marys-Meals-1.png",1279,736,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marys-Meals-1.png",1279,736,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marys-Meals-1.png",150,86,false],"medium":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marys-Meals-1.png",300,173,false],"large":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marys-Meals-1.png",720,414,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marys-Meals-1.png",1279,736,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marys-Meals-1.png",1279,736,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marys-Meals-1.png",660,380,false],"vantage-thumbnail-no-sidebar":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marys-Meals-1.png",660,380,false],"vantage-slide":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marys-Meals-1.png",834,480,false],"vantage-carousel":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marys-Meals-1.png",272,157,false],"vantage-grid-loop":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marys-Meals-1.png",436,251,false],"menu-24x24":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marys-Meals-1.png",24,14,false],"menu-36x36":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marys-Meals-1.png",36,21,false],"menu-48x48":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marys-Meals-1.png",48,28,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Mr Charlton","author_link":false},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"By Melita Jose Mary\u2019s Meals grew out of a charity called Scottish International Relief (SIR). SIR was set up after Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow and his brother Fergus took aid from their home in Scotland to Bosnia-Herzegovina during the conflict in 1992. Over the next 10 years, SIR expanded, building homes for abandoned children in Romania, helping…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4609"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4612,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4609\/revisions\/4612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Our Father, give us this day our daily bread and forgive us for the times when we take more than our share of the bread that belongs to all.
Let us help You fill the starving with good things, not with scraps from our table.
Teach us how to share what is not ours to keep.
Clothe us with Your love that we may complete each good work
You created us to do.
Place in our hearts Your compassion for each starving child and use our little acts of love so that they starve no more. Amen.<\/em><\/strong><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"