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Our story

Child in Malawi learning in class

Our story

Mary’s Meals is a simple idea that works. Learn more about our journey over the past 20 years.

Our Vision

Mary’s Meals’ vision is that every child receives one daily meal in their place of education and that all those who have more than they need, share with those who lack even the most basic things. Working together with people who share our ideals, we believe that this vision can be achieved in this world where there is enough food for everyone.

The history of Mary's Meals

Mary’s Meals grew out of a charity called Scottish International Relief (SIR), which was set up after Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow and his brother Fergus took aid from their home in Argyll, Scotland, to Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, during the conflict in 1992.

Over the next 10 years, SIR expanded. It began building homes for abandoned children in Romania, helped returning refugees in Liberia by setting up mobile clinics, and continued to deliver material aid to Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as funding many additional projects.

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 the family shed. That same shed still serves as the global headquarters of Mary’s Meals to this day.

 

Mary's Meals was founded in 2002

The Mary’s Meals campaign was born in 2002 when Magnus visited Malawi during a famine and met a mother dying from AIDS. When Magnus asked her eldest son Edward what his dreams were in life, he replied simply: “I want to have enough food to eat and to go to school one day.”

That moment was a key part of the inspiration which led to the founding of Mary’s Meals, which began by feeding just 200 children in Malawi in 2002. 

The charity is named in honour of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who brought up her own child in poverty.

Mary's Meals throughout the years

Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow and Gerard Butler on stage at CNN Heroes award ceremony

2010

400,000

Children receive Mary's Meals every school day. 

Magnus was presented with a CNN Hero award by our friend and global ambassador, Gerard Butler. Gerard praised Magnus for our work and said: “Every day Magnus lets children know that they matter, that someone thousands of miles away cares about them.”

Malawi image of children with coloured mugs

2011

500,000 

Children receive Mary's Meals every school day. 

Alongside our school feeding programmes, our emergency relief work also continued. We joined forces with our long-standing friends in Malawi and a South African charity – Gift of the Givers – to deliver emergency food aid to more than 40,000 people in Somalia. 

Volunteer cooks stirring large pot of porridge, Malawi

2012

700,000

Children receive Mary's Meals every school day. 

With school feeding having become the sole focus of its work, SIR officially changes its registered charity name to Mary’s Meals.

 

 

Child smiling in class, Liberia

2014

900,000

Children receive Mary's Meals every school day

The number of children receiving Mary’s Meals continues to grow thanks to the generosity of our supporters. We move closer to feeding one million children every school day.

Stacks of the Shed that Fed book

2015

1,000,000

Children receive Mary's Meals every school day. 

Mary’s Meals feeds one million children around the world every school day. To celebrate the incredible milestone, Magnus’ book, The Shed That Fed A Million Children, is published. 

Graphic with two million children

2021

2,058,099

Children receive Mary's Meals every school day. 

Mary's Meals celebrated feeding more than two million children every school day. The Shed That Fed 2 Million Children, the fully updated edition of Magnus’ 2015 book is released in celebration.

Graphic reading Mary's Meals 20 years of feeding children

2022

2,279,941

Children receive Mary's Meals every school day. 

For 20 years, our school feeding programmes have reached some of the most challenging regions in the world where poverty and hunger prevent children from attending school.

It costs just £19.15 to feed a child for a whole year.

Please give what you can.