Cookstown Mary’s Meals group raises £1,115 to feed 58 children for a school year

MARY’S Meals Cookstown and District Support Group raised an amazing £1,115.61 on Saturday, October 17, during a World Porridge Day fundraising and awareness event in Cookstown.

The fantastic total will feed 58 children every day for a full school year, helping to provide vital nutrition and encourage children in some of the world’s poorest countries to attend school and gain an education.

Mary’s Meals is a global volunteer movement that believes every child in our world of plenty should receive one daily meal in a place of education, so chronically hungry children are encouraged into school, where they can get a basic education that can provide an escape route from poverty.

Each year in October Mary’s Meals globally holds a World Porridge Day to raise awareness of the role that porridge plays in the Mary’s Meals feeding programmes in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, where a mug of maize-based porridge, with added vitamins, encourages children to attend class and learn.

The promise of these meals and the education the children receive means they grow up well nourished and well educated to become the men and women who will lift their communities out of poverty. This may be the only meal the child gets for the day and it costs just £19.15 to feed a child every day in school for a whole school year.

A spokesperson said: “Our thanks to White’s Speedicook for supplying free sachets of porridge to help celebrate World Porridge Day and promote Mary’s Meals.

“Saturday’s World Porridge Day collection in Cookstown raised an amazing total of £1,115.61 which will feed 58 children every day for a full school year, and the local group are grateful for the wonderful generosity of the Cookstown public. Our thanks also to the proprietors of the 2 Spar shops for allowing the use of their premises to facilitate our promotion day.

“For every £1 donated, Mary’s Meals is committed to spending 93p on charitable activities.

Anyone interested in helping Mary’s Meals feed the next hungry child, visit www.marysmeals.org.uk or contact 07774043147