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Mary’s Meals Parish Project Presentation
Hunger kills 6 million children every year before they reach the age of 5. A further 300 million are also affected by chronic hunger. Of these, 130 million do not attend school or get an education.
Studies show that an education is the best way an individual, or a society, can escape from poverty. An education can set a child free from poverty in adult life and not only that, but their children as well.
But how can you educate a child, if their only way of surviving is to labour in the fields or in the streets. Even if you get the child to school, how can the child concentrate when they are continuously hungry?
This is where Mary's Meals comes in. Mary's Meals objective is to provide poverty stricken children at least one substantial meal a day at school.
The benefits of this are:
- School attendance is higher because parents (if they have any!) are more likely to send their children to school if they know they can get a decent meal, even girls who traditionally have to stay at home to help out in the household
- By receiving a substantial meal, they are able to concentrate in their class and achieve better grades
- By receiving a substantial meal, the child’s health starts to improve because they are better placed to fight illnesses.
It costs £5.30 to feed a child in Malawi for a whole year. This is more or less the cost of a bottle of wine, a round of drinks for two, a packet of cigarettes or a trip to the cinema for one. Costs are kept to a minimum because volunteers help right throughout the chain from fund raising to those preparing and serving the meals.
The challenge to St. Peter’s Parish is to support a primary school of 350 children in Chibwana, Malawi. They need a shelter for storing and preparing food, which costs in the region of £4,000 and the annual feeding cost is about £2,000.
A number of fundraising events are planned in the forthcoming weeks, including a coffee morning on
Friday 17th November, 2006 at 10am in the Parish Centre,
followed by the Advent project throughout December 2006.
Your support for these would be appreciated.
A commitment to feeding the children is however a longer term requirement and is best suited to a regular or monthly contribution. If you feel you wish and are able to contribute on a regular basis to our Mary's Meals project, please ask for a Mary's Meals contribution form. These forms will help to specifically target regular contributions to the St. Peter's Parish project.
On a final note, this is a simple solution to a very big problem. Let’s make a big difference to the lives of many who are less fortunate than ourselves.
Mary's Meals is a global campaign set up by Scottish International Relief.
It is an
initiative that sets up school feeding projects in communities where
poverty blocks children from gaining an education.
It costs from
just £5.30
to feed a child in school for a whole year.
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