The official announcement of the milestone will be made on 8 September, the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Founder and CEO Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, speaking at the Rimini Meeting, tells Vatican Media: “We feel called to stand with those parts of the world where people have no voice.”
By Guglielmo Gallone – Rimini
“Every day, more than three million children receive a meal at school thanks to our support.” With these words, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, founder and CEO of Mary’s Meals, shared the latest milestone in an interview with Vatican Media.
The official announcement, entitled More than 3 Million, will take place on 8 September, the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom the charity is dedicated.
But MacFarlane-Barrow wanted to preview the news at the Rimini Meeting, offering it as a message of hope and reconciliation—an invitation, echoing this year’s theme, to “build in desert places with new bricks.”
More than twenty years of growth
“When we first started feeding around a hundred children in 2002, we could never have imagined that the work would grow in such an extraordinary way,” MacFarlane-Barrow explained. “The message I want to share today is one of hope: even in a world full of problems, good things can grow. A simple act can change lives and transform whole communities.”
This reflection will also be at the heart of the Rimini Meeting panel Justice is not enough, we need charity, where MacFarlane-Barrow will join Lord John Bird, member of the House of Lords, and Marco Piuri, president of Fondazione Banco Alimentare ETS.
Bringing hope to overlooked places
Mary’s Meals is especially active in places often forgotten by the headlines and overlooked by international politics, yet which are deeply caught up in what Pope Francis has described as a “third world war fought piecemeal.”
In Africa, the charity has expanded significantly in Malawi and Zambia, where it now reaches more than 1.3 million and 600,000 children, respectively, despite droughts, floods, and economic crises.
In Ethiopia’s war-scarred Tigray region, the number of children receiving meals has risen from 30,000 to over 245,000 in less than two years. In Haiti, amid violence and political instability driven by gangs, more than 196,000 children now receive a daily school meal.
This year alone, compared with 2024, Mary’s Meals has been able to reach an additional 800,000 children—an exceptional increase.
Yet the need remains immense: 71 million primary-school-aged children are currently out of school worldwide, a figure greater than the total number of primary school pupils in the UK, Europe, the US, and Canada combined. Research consistently shows that effective school meal programmes are a powerful incentive for children to attend school.
The joy of simplicity
The strength of the project lies in its simplicity: a safe, nutritious meal at school, encouraging attendance and offering new opportunities for the future.
For MacFarlane-Barrow, the deepest satisfaction lies precisely here: “We feel called to be present in those parts of the world where people have no voice. We want to walk alongside these communities for years—especially when the media forgets about them. A meal in a school can change how people see their future. And perhaps most inspiring of all is walking with the young—their creativity, their faith, their hope.”
A gift for Our Lady
It is in this spirit that MacFarlane-Barrow explains the choice of 8 September for the official announcement.
“We chose this day because we want to offer this gift to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Mary’s Meals belongs to her, and we want to mark her birthday in this way. It will be a happy day.”
