Mary’s Meals volunteers are helping to transform children’s lives
Volunteers are the lifeblood of Mary’s Meals, ensuring children receive daily meals at school. For Ikhlas, Linda, and Énia, volunteering is a responsibility that brings hope to the children we serve.
The daily work involved in preparing and serving nutritious meals to children in their place of education is carried out by local volunteers, without whom we would not be able to deliver our school feeding programme. Volunteers play a central role in the success of the programme, giving their time and labour to cook and serve the meals.
In this article, volunteers Ikhlas, Linda, and Énia talk about how volunteering for Mary’s Meals gives hope to the children and their families in their community.
“Hope motivates them to stay in school”
Ikhlas Nour el Dine volunteers to help prepare Mary’s Meals for the children that attend Tabitha Community Center in Aley, Lebanon. As a widow and mother, she knows the struggles families face all too well. “The economic crisis has made everything more expensive – books, stationery, transport – making it harder for families to prioritise education,” she explains. “This creates a cycle where poverty limits access to education, and a lack of education limits opportunities for a better future.”
For Ikhlas, volunteering is deeply personal. “I was drawn to [Mary’s Meals] because I believe in its mission,” she explains. “Providing nutritious meals helps children focus on learning instead of hunger and eases the financial burden on parents. What touches me most is the equality it creates – every child receives the same meal, fostering dignity and inclusion.”
And she sees the hope it brings to the children and their families every school day. “Hope gives children the courage to dream and imagine a life beyond hardship,” she says. “It motivates them to stay in school and believe they can achieve something meaningful. Being a part of this programme makes me feel like I’m contributing to something meaningful. I’m not just serving meals; I’m helping build a better future for these children.”
“I hope all our children can live in peace and stability,” says Ikhla. “And I believe this programme is helping us move closer to that dream.”
“I'm doing it out of love for the pupils”
At Queen of Peace Catholic School in Liberia, Linda is the storekeeper for Mary’s Meals’ school feeding programme, ensuring that food is carefully managed so that the children can all receive a meal at school. Her dedication reflects her belief that volunteering is an act of charity and love for the pupils. “I'm doing it for love for the students,” she says.
Linda is deeply aware of the challenges children face in her community. “Some parents can’t afford to send their children to school, while others [make] their children [work] instead of coming to school,” she explains. However, the introduction of the school feeding programme changed this reality. “The children feel happy to come to school. They come for advice, and they have hope that when they come to school, they will have a meal,” Linda says. “Once you eat, you feel happy to learn.”
For Linda, hope is vital because she believes that education is the bedrock of the nation. And her hope for the future is simple: that the children are fed, educated and grow into productive members of society – building a stronger community and a brighter tomorrow.
“With hope, one day things will improve”
In Mozambique, Énia Carlos Chauque volunteers at Tindzawene Primary School to support the Mary’s Meals school feeding programme. She has seen how drought continues to devastate her community, bringing food shortages and leaving families unable to afford school supplies or uniforms. “Food shortages also affect children’s physical development,” she explains, adding that hunger makes it harder for them to learn and thrive.
Énia’s decision to volunteer comes from a deep sense of responsibility. “I know that even when families don’t have food, the children will receive a meal when I come to cook,” she says. This daily act not only alleviates children’s hunger but also fuels their determination to stay at school and work towards a better future.
Énia has witnessed the impact of the programme firsthand: children now attend school more regularly, and families feel reassured knowing their children are both fed and educated. “The programme gives children hope of progressing to other levels of education, and it gives families hope of seeing their children free from malnutrition,” she says proudly.
Looking ahead, Énia dreams of a future where every child in her community is healthy, educated, and has the chance to build a brighter future for themselves and their families. “The school feeding programme gives me hope that our children will have better job opportunities and that our community will have children in school with a promising future,” she says.
This Christmas, for less than £20, you can give a child the gift of daily meals for an entire school year. It’s more than just a donation – it’s a promise that a child can eat every day in school for an entire school year, giving them, their families and their local community hope of a brighter future.