Following the harvest festival service held on Sunday 13th September St Mary’s, Billingsley has made a donation, from the service collection, of £60 to the charity ‘Mary’s Meals’. This very worthwhile charity provides a healthy, balanced meal to thousands of children in deprived areas of the world each day. The meals are served at schools which not only assists the physical development and nourishment of the youngsters but also encourages regularly attendance at school which has long term benefits for future of the children, their families and the communities in which they live.
Here is the letter of thanks received from Mary’s Meal for our donation;
Dear Friends
Thank you so much for your donation of £60.00 to Mary’s Meals, which will be used to provide life-changing meals for children in their place of education.
Supporting our school feeding programmes is a great way of helping hungry children to learn and giving them the best chance of a future free from poverty.
The daily meals we provide are enabling thousands of children to attend school and work towards their dreams. Children such as 14-year-old Chimza Harry, who attends Mwalamba Primary School in Malawi.
Chimza – whose full name, Chimwemwe, means joy – lives at home with his mother Lucia and three siblings. The family ran out of food stores soon after last year’s harvest, having only managed to grow one bag of maize.
He said: “I feel weak in the mornings when I walk to school. I feel lethargic, but I am excited to go to school because I will eat here, and learn.”
Chimza is top of his class and has been every year since he started school. However, as the eldest male living in the household, he feels duty-bound to help support the family and is adamant that he would not be at school if it weren’t for the phala (porridge).
“When I eat the phala I get the strength to eat, study, walk home, and work.”
“If there was no phala, I would have left school, because I know when I am hungry I cannot listen properly, I cannot learn. I would like to finish my education and become a doctor. I would like to help my people – the people around my village – to see a doctor in hospital faster.”
Chimza’s academic achievements show he is right to be ambitious. Thanks to your generosity, he and thousands more children have the chance to realise their dreams. On behalf of the 1,667,067 children who currently receive Mary’s Meals, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Yours sincerely,
Daniel Adams
Executive Director, Mary’s Meals UK
Above are a few photos that show the wonderful decorations and floral tributes that were organised by Mary and Ellen, we thank you both. The church looked splendid! All produce collected before and during the services was donated to Bridgnorth Food Bank to help those in need closer to home.
Take a look at the website of Mary’s Meal for more information about the work of the charity at https://www.marysmeals.org.uk/useful-links/about-marys-meals/