Volunteers’ Week: Gran and Granddaughter duo on the joys of charity volunteering
Margaret Hughes, who volunteers with granddaughter Bobbi, 11, says Mary’s Meals has brought joy back into her life
A Dungannon grandmother, who has found community and friendship by volunteering with Mary’s Meals, is calling on more people to sign up and help the charity this Volunteers’ Week (1 - 7 June).
Margaret Hughes first found Mary’s Meals at a difficult time in her life. After her husband of 57 years, Damien, had passed away, Margaret was lost without her soul mate and best friend. She was encouraged by the co-ordinator of the local Mary’s Meals Armagh and Servite Priory Benburb group, Pauline, to come for a coffee and meet some of the volunteering community.
She now volunteers for the charity on a weekly basis at the Mary’s Meals information centre at Benburb priory, finding friends and a new sense of purpose. Her granddaughter Bobbi, aged 11, also supports the charity and “loves it”, inspired by her gran’s efforts to help children living in some of the world’s poorest communities. The dynamic duo are both dedicated volunteers for Mary’s Meals and are encouraging others to get involved in the charity.
When discussing the Mary’s Meals Armagh and Benburb volunteer group, Margaret explains: “They're lovely: watching for you coming and they're glad to see you while you're there. We just talk and get on together; it's like a family reunion to be perfectly honest.”
The charity relies on a generous community of volunteers both in the UK and across the world. The food provided in schools is cooked by local community volunteers, who are often relatives of children receiving the meals. One of these volunteers is Stella Chimenya from southern Malawi. She volunteers at Namingwere Primary School, where two of her children attend, and sees first-hand the life changing impact the daily meals make.
She says: “I am very happy to volunteer because I have two children at the school. The school feeding programme is good for families like mine. It helps me feed my children and lessens the burden when my children go to school without eating in the morning.”
To follow in Margaret, Bobbi and Stella’s footsteps and get involved in the Mary’s Meals mission this Volunteers’ Week, people can sign up. Volunteering could be the perfect opportunity to make a difference and meet a community of passionate volunteer heroes. From becoming a speaker and sharing the Mary’s Meals story in your local community; helping to organise a fundraising event, to providing general admin support, there are lots of ways to start your volunteering story with Mary’s Meals.
Caoimhe McCann, Regional Development Officer for Northern Ireland at Mary’s Meals, says: “We have an outstanding community of volunteers in Northern Ireland that I feel so proud to work with every day. Margaret and Bobbi are wonderful examples of how volunteering can change lives: the lives of those we provide meals to and the lives of the volunteers themselves.
“We are so grateful for all they do. If you have ever thought about volunteering, we are a warm and passionate group, who love to have a chat and to do some good in the world.”
