Music for a cause: Mary’s Meals charity hosts Christmas concert
- Mary’s Meals provides food to schools in poor countries around the world.
- Hosting their biggest fundraising event yet in Manchester.
Featured Image: Mary’sMealsUKcharity
Get ready to jingle all the way! Mary’s Meals charity is hosting a festive music concert in Manchester, raising money to feed school children in developing countries.
The Christmas concert will take place on 23rd November at St Bede’s College in Whalley Range, Manchester, at 7.30pm (doors open at 6.30pm). The founder of Mary’s Meals and Sunday Times best-selling author, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow OBE will be there, as well as a selection of seasonal stalls, refreshments and music from The Sacred Heart Choir.
Mary’s Meals
Mary’s Meals charity was founded by Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow OBE in 2002, after he witnessed the extreme hunger and poverty faced by children when he travelled to Malawi with his brother.
The first school meal program was then launched that same year in Malawi, serving just over 200 school children. By 2010, Mary’s Meals was providing school meals to over 300,000 children in Malawi.
As of 2024, Marys Meals is now feeding 2,429,182 children every school day, across 17 countries in communities where hunger and poverty prevents children from gaining an education.
Volunteers
Fran Lawson, the Northern supporter engagement officer for Mary’s Meals, has been volunteering for the charity since 2012 and became a staff member in 2016.
She said: “Despite the successes we have seen, our work is far from over, with 64 million children worldwide missing school because of poverty.”
“Children are having to beg, work or scavenge just to survive- and millions more sit in classrooms across the world, so hungry that they are unable to concentrate and learn.
“We believe that every child deserves an education and enough to eat.”
She encourages individuals in the local area to sign up as volunteers or invite Mary’s Meals to talk about their work to bring exposure for the charity.
“Volunteers really are the lifeblood of Mary’s Meals,” she added.
Manchester charity events
This Christmas concert is the biggest yet for Mary’s Meals in the North. However, they do host plenty of other fundraising activities like coffee mornings; craft sales; football sweepstakes and cake sales.
With 679 volunteers across the country, they managed to raise £23,732,576 by the end of 2023. They hope to continue to raise this much in the foreseeable and expand more across the UK.