Soroptimist International club Mansfield & District, were very pleased to present a cheque for £2,407.55p. to Lindsay Graham a representative of the Charity, Mary’s Meals.
President Sue Mosley gave the cheque to Lindsay following her first year in Office, 2013-2014, as this was her chosen Charity.
Funds were raised by the Club members, during that year, with a Quiz night with supper, Fashion show, Summer Tea party, Coffee mornings etc.
Lindsay gave us some background information regarding Mary’s Meals, which was started by a young man named Magnus, from the village of Dalmally in Argyle. Magnus perceived that the huge loss of life in the ‘early years’, in the world’s poorest countries, was due mainly to starvation.
His idea was relatively simple, in that, all children who managed to attend their nearest school, (in some cases many miles away), with rudimentary requirements for learning, i.e. pencils, exercise books bowl and spoon, then they would be fed.
One meal per day, if the ‘school’ were equipped with a kitchen!
So since 1992, Mary’s Meals, have provided kitchens and equipment, tp provincial and rural schools ‘or education blocks’, as well as food relevant to the area or Country.
Currently this Charity provides 960,000 children with a daily meal!
Issues in certain areas, such as Liberia, where schools have closed due to Ebola, pose more challenging problems. The workers for the Charity are delivering the food directly to the children where they live.
It costs £12.20p. to feed a child for a year, quite a humbling thought