Our Story
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 Argyll, Scotland to Medjugorje, 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 mobile clinics, and continued to deliver material aid to Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as funding many additional projects.
They 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 Chief Executive – 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 go to school one day.”
That moment was a key part of the inspiration which led to the founding of Mary’s Meals, which began by feeding just 200 children in Malawi in 2002.
The charity is named in honor of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who brought up her own child in poverty.
Mary's Meals throughout the years
2010
400,000
Children receive Mary's Meals every school day.
Magnus was presented with a CNN Hero award by our friend and global ambassador, Gerard Butler. Gerard praised Magnus for our work and said: “Every day Magnus lets children know that they matter, that someone thousands of miles away cares about them.”
2011
500,000
Children receive Mary's Meals every school day.
Alongside our school feeding programs, our emergency relief work also continued. We joined forces with our long-standing friends in Malawi and a South African charity – Gift of the Givers – to deliver emergency food aid to more than 40,000 people in Somalia.
2012
700,000
Children receive Mary's Meals every school day.
With school feeding having become the sole focus of its work, SIR officially changes its registered charity name to Mary’s Meals.
2014
900,000
Children receive Mary's Meals every school day.
The number of children receiving Mary’s Meals continues to grow thanks to the generosity of our supporters. We move closer to feeding one million children every school day.
2015
1,000,000
Children receive Mary's Meals every school day.
Mary’s Meals feeds one million children around the world every school day. To celebrate the incredible milestone, Magnus’ book, The Shed That Fed A Million Children, is published.
2021
2,058,099
Children receive Mary's Meals every school day.
Mary's Meals celebrated feeding more than 2 million children every school day. The Shed That Fed 2 Million Children, the fully updated edition of Magnus’ 2015 book is released in celebration.
2022
2,279,941
Children receive Mary's Meals every school day.
For 20 years, our school feeding programs have reached some of the most challenging regions in the world where poverty and hunger prevent children from attending school.
2023
2,429,182
Children receive Mary's Meals every school day.
2022 saw more than 149,000 children welcomed into our global school feeding program, bringing the total number of children receiving our nutritious meals every school day to 2,429,182.
