SUMMARY REPORT

Title:
My summary report on a visit in by a representative from Mary’s Meals, Patricia Friel, as a
part of Enterprise Education.
Submitted by:
Lorenza Neri
Aims:
 As a class we hope to organise a visit in from a local voluntary organisation.
 I hope to raise awareness of this worthy world-wide organisation.
 I will inform other tutor groups on the visit by making an announcement.
 I want to find out how the organisation came into operation.
Introduction:
The visit took place on the 19th October 2023 in one of our double rooms (13-14) and it lasted
for about 40 minutes.
Who is the founder of Mary’s Meals and how did the organisation come into operation?
 Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow OBE is the founder and Global CEO of the charity
Mary’s Meals, a non-profit organisation that provides life-changing meals to some of
the world’s poorest children every school day.
 Magnus started his career as a fish farmer in Argyll, Scotland. In 1992 during the
Balkan conflict, he and his brother Fergus were so moved by scenes of the conflict on
television that they took a week’s leave from their jobs, loaded a jeep with aid and
joined a convoy travelling to Medjugorje, in Bosnia, to distribute it.
 On their return, donations continued to flood in, resulting in Magnus eventually
driving from Scotland to Bosnia a total of 23 times to deliver vital supplies. Magnus
never returned to his old job and instead set up a registered charity, Scottish
International Relief (SIR).
 In 2002, during an aid trip to Malawi in Southeast Africa, Magnus experienced yet
another landmark moment when he met 14-year-old Edward. Edward was the eldest
of six, and his mother was dying of AIDS. Edward’s one simple hope was to have
enough food to eat and to go to school one day.
 As a result of hearing Edward’s story, Mary’s Meals was born. From initially feeding
200 children in Malawi the charity now feeds an incredible 2,429,182 children every
school day. The humble shed that was home to those initial gifts, continues to be the
charity’s spiritual home to this day.
What does Mary’s Meals aim to and what services does it offer?
 The main objective for which the Company is established is to provide for the relief
of poverty and the advancement of education through financial assistance to support
School Feeding Programmes which provide daily meals to school-going impoverished
and disadvantaged children throughout the world.
 To fund emergency situations, care for, and send aid, material and otherwise to
disadvantaged communities.
 Even if they want to expand and feed more children, they also focus on making sure
to keep feeding the 2.4 million children they already feed.
 They make sure that at least 93% of money donated goes to the children.
  They provide the children with one meal per day to motivate them to go to school;
when fed, they learn better.
Where are the organisation’s headquarters located?
 Nationally  Dublin.
 Globally  Scotland.
What training do volunteers get?
 They are taught the basis of fundraising.
 They are taught how to deal with people: they are told to be polite and persuasive
with them.
 They can give donors information about what the organisation does.
 “You can assist teams in Ireland by raising awareness and funds to support our
mission to end child hunger. Whether it's organising fundraising events and starting
conversations about our work, or using your skills to support Mary’s Meals in a local
office or remotely, there are many ways that you can help to bring hope to vulnerable
children by volunteering your time.”
 Supporter groups: “If you have some time to spare – even just a few hours each
month – why not get involved with one of our existing groups in your area to help
spread the word about our work and generate vital donations to ensure we can
continue serving much-needed meals to children while they learn.”
How does the organisation get their founding?
 Fundraising
 Charity shops
 Annual walk
 Car boot sales
 Regular givers
 Fill Mugs to Fight Hunger
More about Mary’s Meals:
 “Our mission is to enable people to offer their money, goods, skills, time, or prayer,
and through this involvement, provide the most effective help to those suffering the
effects of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest communities.”
 Mary’s Meals is a simple idea that works. A daily meal in school has a positive
impact on enrolment, attendance, and performance in class, and could even hold the
key to eradicating child hunger altogether.
 The average cost of feeding a child for a whole school year with Mary’s Meals is just
€22.
 2021 was a challenging but very successful year for Mary’s Meals. Covid-19
continued to affect our ability to feed children in their place of education, with school
closures or restrictions on our in-school feeding from 2020.
 Despite this, Mary’s Meals was able to keep our promise to the children we reach
(with in-school feeding where possible and through take-home rations when
necessary). We also expanded to reach an additional 425,058 children in 1,240
schools in 12 countries.
 2021 was also a notable year for Mary’s Meals as we reached a global milestone of
feeding two million children daily, whilst demonstrating a strong impact across all our
programmes.
Conclusion:
 Our class successfully organised a visit in from the local voluntary organisation
Mary’s Meals, represented by Patricia Friel.
 I accomplished to raise awareness of this world-wide organisation around the school.
 I informed the other tutor groups about the visit and they all participated.
 I found out a lot about the organisation and how it came into operation.
Recommendations:
 Make sure the speaker has a microphone.
 Make sure there’s enough chairs for everybody tanking part in the talk.