MARY’S MEALS: A SIMPLE SCHOOL MEAL CAN CHANGE THE PATH OF A CHILD’S LIFE

Dear Bill,

Haiti’s children are running out of options. Hungry and surrounded by violence, many are being recruited into armed gangs – lured by the promise of food. Our school meals give them a lifeline. As well as providing vital nutrition, they are helping to keep children in Haiti in the safety and stability of the classroom where they can learn and simply be children.

Thanks to the collective effort of wonderful supporters and local communities, our Crisis In Haiti appeal has raised £104,766 so far. But as we operate in one of the most challenging and risky situations we have ever faced, we still urgently need your support to keep providing vital school meals for tens of thousands of children caught up in this crisis.

After gangs occupied their neighbourhood in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, 14-year-old Anne and her mother Altagrace, were forced to flee to a camp for internally displaced people, where Mary’s Meals is providing a safe haven at school for Anne. Read on to hear them tell us how a simple school meal is restoring their belief in a life beyond the chaos.

“Even if you have money, there is nothing you can do to prepare something for the children. You can only prepare bread and peanut butter, which is not nourishing. But with the help of Mary’s Meals at school, I no longer have concerns. The children come and tell me about the different types of food they are offered.

“The meal is very important for a child to learn. If they are hungry, they will not be able to learn. If they are hungry, they will only be worried about what they are going to eat. May Mary’s Meals continue to operate so that children can enjoy a meal, and so that when they are learning, they can do so without worries.”

For families in Haiti like Altagrace and Anne, Mary’s Meals is providing a light in the darkness. Our school meals are more than vital nutrition – they also offer safety, routine and hope.

Anne says: “I would like to keep going like this because [Mary’s Meals is] saving a lot of people.”

Bring hope to Haiti’s children

Your gift today does more than provide food — it helps children stay in school, where they can learn and dream again. Please donate if you can, and help us keep bringing food, safety, routine, and hope to children like Anne.