Delivering daily school meals to the children we serve
The many moving parts of Mary’s Meals’ school feeding programme come together to bring hope to some of the world’s poorest children.
Published onBehind the scenes, across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East, large-scale logistics operations make it possible for Mary’s Meals volunteers to cook and serve more than 2.6 million plates, mugs and bowls of food to children every day in their place of learning.
From field to plate – a feat of planning and coordination
The journey of a meal starts with our suppliers: organisations that distribute the ingredients needed and keep our supply chain safe and running to schedule.
In certain countries, such as Zambia, suppliers set up warehouses in different locations to aid with transportation and minimise disruption. In doing so, they can create efficiencies by making more short-distance deliveries in areas where we are working with a high number of schools.
In Malawi, food is delivered directly from the supplier’s main location to the schools to be offloaded and sorted by volunteers, while in Kenya and Liberia, suppliers operate from a warehouse. Rigorous checks are carried out by a Mary’s Meals representative to ensure orders are correct and of the high standard we expect.
Using locally sourced ingredients
The ingredients we use in our meals are sourced locally wherever possible and differ depending on local tastes, culture and availability. It is essential that our daily meals use ingredients that are reliably available, simple to prepare and cost effective.
If suppliers deliver to a consistently high standard, we will continue working with them year after year. We have found that this assurance has positive outcomes for both ends of the supply chain: we receive high quality produce, and suppliers and local farmers have the confidence to invest in farming methods and infrastructure to ensure supplies are delivered smoothly and of the highest quality.
Navigating challenging environments
Delivery is not always a straightforward process, and our teams must prioritise forward planning to ensure that food reaches each place of education we serve in a timely manner, even in the most trying circumstances.
In Malawi and Zambia, many of the schools we serve are located in hard to-reach areas. When suppliers can't access the most isolated locations, the Mary’s Meals Malawi team is on hand to transport deliveries by motorbike or truck.
With the ever-growing threat of climate disasters, such as flooding, drought and cyclones, our teams place larger orders with suppliers for the hardest-to-reach areas. A lot of effort goes into stock management to keep food safe and avoid any spoilage.
Remarkable people – making the unexpected possible
Throughout our history, we have been blessed by incredible individuals who go above and beyond to make the running of our school feeding programme a success.
For example, to serve children living in Likoma and Chizumulu – islands located in Lake Malawi – boats bring everything that is needed to prepare and cook the meal. When the boats arrive at each of the islands, people from the local communities collect the bags of grain and supplies and deliver them to the schools.
The support of our global family
While we face many challenges in our work to provide daily meals to the children we serve, we are continually spurred on by the unwavering support, compassion and commitment of our global family.
The sum total of many moving parts bring about big changes for the children and communities who rely on our school feeding programme.