Mary's Meals Offaly feeds almost 6,000 children in 2021

Mary's Meals Offaly, the local branch of the charity that feeds hungry children at school in 20 of the world's poorest countries, managed to feed 5,793 children this year.

It costs the local charity branch €18.30 to feed each child for a school year or nine cent per individual meal.

Providing a daily meal at school attracts chronically hungry children into the classroom where they receive an education which is their route out of a life of poverty.

The charity was established in 2002 and fed 200 children in Malawi that year. Twenty years later that has grown to 2,058,099 children being fed every day at school.

Where possible the food is sourced from local farmers in each of the 20 countries where Mary's Meals operates. This has the added benefit of being a huge help to the darmers, providing them with a regular income from their crops.

The charity guarantees that at least 93% of all proceeds raised goes directly to its charitable activities and for the past five years it has achieved 95%.

Paul Galvin of Mary's Meals Offaly said: “Our goal now is to try our very best to raise enough again this year to feed each and every single one of these 5,793 children. It's just so sad in this day and age to think that any child anywhere in the world would go to bed hungry, or worse, die for want of one good meal per day. I'm sure it must be any parent's worst nightmare not to be able to feed their child, to see their child hungry and not be able to feed them."

Rose Lyons, also from the Offaly branch, stated:;"The work of Mary's Meals is named after Mary, the mother of Jesus, who brought her own son up in poverty. We share her prayer that the hungry will be filled with good things.”

The main fundraising events carried out by Mary's Meals Offaly during 2021 were the 'Miss it for a Meal', 'Christmas Hamper Draws', 'Christmas Cards', 'The Fayre in the Square' and 'The Coin Collection' event.

Treasurer of Mary's Meals Offaly, Vincent McDermott, said he was “amazed by how kind and caring so many people have been during the year and especially the success of the coin collection. Coins are still coming in each week. Every €1 we collect will provide 11 meals.”

Some members of Mary's Meals Offaly will be travelling to Medugorje on pilgrimage for Easter week and will remember all Mary's Meals Offaly supporters and their families in Masses during the week.

To find out more about Mary's Meals visit their website at marysmeals.ie