Our Story
Our Vision
Mary’s Meals’ vision is that every child receives one daily meal in their place of education and that all those who have more than they need, share with those who lack even the most basic things. Working together with people who share our ideals, we believe that this vision can be achieved in this world where there is enough food for everyone.
The history of Mary's Meals
Mary’s Meals grew out of a charity called Scottish International Relief (SIR), which was set up after Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow and his brother Fergus took aid from their home in Scotland to Bosnia-Herzegovina during the conflict in 1992.
Over the next 10 years, SIR expanded. It began building homes for abandoned children in Romania, helped returning refugees in Liberia by setting up a mobile health clinic, and continued to deliver material aid to Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as funding many additional projects.
Initially, the charity relied heavily on the generosity of local people in their village of Dalmally in Argyll, Scotland, who diligently donated food, blankets and other items of aid, which were then stored in the family shed. That same shed still serves as the global headquarters of Mary’s Meals – and Magnus’ office as CEO – to this day.
Mary's Meals was founded in 2002
The Mary’s Meals campaign was born in 2002 when Magnus visited Malawi during a famine and met a mother dying from AIDS. When Magnus asked her eldest son Edward what his dreams were in life, he replied simply: “I want to have enough food to eat and to be able to go to school one day.”
That moment was a key part of the inspiration that led to the founding of Mary’s Meals, which began by providing school meals to around 200 children in two primary schools in Malawi. Today, we serve meals to 2,429,182 children every school day across 18 countries.
The charity is named in honour of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who brought up her own child in poverty.
Mary's Meals through the years
The MacFarlane-Barrow family from Scotland makes a pilgrimage to Medjugorje, which renews their Catholic faith and leads them to convert their guesthouse into a dedicated retreat centre, Craig Lodge Family House of Prayer.
1992: Moved by news reports about the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow and his brother Fergus launch a local appeal to help those suffering the effects of the conflict. They then drive to Medjugorje in a secondhand Land Rover filled with donations of food, clothing, and medicines. On their return home to Scotland, they expect to resume their jobs as fish farmers, but instead the brothers see that public donations have continued to flood in, more than filling their parents’ small shed in Dalmally.
1993: Magnus gives up his job to continue delivering aid to Bosnia-Herzegovina and sets up a registered charity, Scottish International Relief (SIR), to formalise this work.
SIR delivers over £10 million of aid and its work expands to Romania and Liberia.
2002 - 2004
2002: Mary’s Meals is born, initially as an SIR campaign that receives attention and generous support from around the UK.
2003: The first life-changing school meals are served, by local volunteers, at primary schools in Chipini and Chilomoni, Malawi.
2004: Children in India begin receiving Mary’s Meals. Our first information point opens in Medjugorje.
Mary’s Meals starts providing meals alongside communities in Kenya.
Working with a local partner, we respond to the aftermath of the 2024 Boxing Day tsunami in India, supporting homeless people, providing health care, and replacing fishing boats.
Ireland joins the Mary’s Meals family.
2006: The school feeding programme reaches Haiti and Liberia. We welcome Germany into the Mary’s Meals family.
2008: Our school meals are served in Myanmar, South Sudan, Uganda and Thailand. We welcome the USA into the Mary’s Meals family.
2010: Mary’s Meals begins feeding children in Ecuador. Our campaign in response to the Haiti earthquake quickly raises funds to create temporary classrooms and provide essential meals to learners. We are also able to repair and rebuild damaged school buildings. Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina join the Mary’s Meals family.
2011: Children in Benin receive Mary’s Meals for the first time. Working with a Malawian partner, we deliver emergency food supplies to Somalia during a famine. Italy joins the Mary’s Meals global movement.
2012: We welcome Canada and the Netherlands to our global family.
2013: Austria joins the Mary’s Meals movement.
2014: Mary’s Meals begins serving children in Zambia. The West African Ebola outbreak closes all schools in Liberia, briefly halting our programme. Mary’s Meals Liberia works tirelessly to deliver school feeding rations directly to the children in their communities, as well as making food aid available to many others affected by the crisis, including patients infected with the virus. Spain is welcomed into the Mary’s Meals family.
2015
Mary’s Meals reaches the milestone of feeding one million children every school day.
Magnus’ book telling the story of Mary’s Meals – The Shed That Fed A Million Children – is published in English and makes the Sunday Times bestseller list.
2016: The school feeding programme launches in Lebanon, providing meals for Syrian refugee children alongside their Lebanese classmates. In response to a food crisis in Malawi, we expand our programme to provide more children with a lifeline in the form of daily school meals. Switzerland joins the Mary’s Meals family.
2017: Children in Syria and Ethiopia receive Mary’s Meals for the first time. Belgium and Portugal join the Mary’s Meals family. The first Mary’s Meals Annual Family Pilgrimage takes place in Medjugorje, 25 years after Magnus first delivered aid there.
2018: We begin serving meals to children in Zimbabwe and Madagascar. A new Mary’s Meals Visitor Centre – nicknamed “The Blue Container” – opens in Medjugorje, inside a repurposed shipping container. The space is blessed by Archbishop Henrik Hoser, the Pope’s special envoy in Medjugorje. Australia, the Czech Republic, and France join the Mary’s Meals family.
2019: We welcome Slovakia and Poland into our global movement.
Our meals are served for the first time in Niger.
The Covid-19 pandemic closes schools across the globe and Mary’s Meals develops new methods of distribution to continue to ensure children can receive essential meals in their homes as temporary places of learning.
2021
Mary’s Meals reaches the milestone of serving more than two million children every school day and fully updated edition of Magnus’ book is released, renamed as The Shed That Fed 2 Million Children.
Children in Yemen receive Mary’s Meals for the first time.
We launch an emergency appeal to support the people of Tigray, Ethiopia, during the brutal civil war and work with our partner to deliver food and essentials to tens of thousands of displaced Tigrayans.
Following an earthquake in Haiti, we support one of our partners to deliver ration packs and essential food items to families in the worst affected areas.
Hong Kong joins the Mary’s Meals family.
Slovenia is welcomed to the Mary’s Meals family. Mary’s Meals marks its 20th anniversary.
Just days after earthquakes hit Syria, we begin supporting affected communities by delivering emergency meals while schools are closed. Schools in Tigray, Ethiopia, finally re-open after more than three years of closure because of Covid-19 and the two-year civil war that followed. We welcome Hungary into the Mary’s Meals family.
Children in Mozambique receive Mary’s Meals for the first time. In response to the deteriorating situation in Tigray, we launch the Crisis in Ethiopia campaign and expand our programme to reach many thousands more children in the drought-affected region
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