The impact of Mary’s Meals
Discover how your support – and each meal you are helping to deliver every school day – is making a difference for children both inside the classroom and at home.
Published onWe appreciate that pledging to cover the cost of daily meals for every child at your chosen school is a significant commitment that demands time and investment from you – and those around you who are spurring you on and donating so generously. Your commitment is making a huge impact.
These meals are so much more than food. They bring renewed hope for a brighter future for children, their families and the wider community. Read on to discover how your support – and each meal you are helping to deliver every school day – is making a difference for children both inside the classroom and at home.
Mary’s Meals has been working in partnership with communities to deliver school feeding programmes for more than two decades, and we have seen first-hand the immediate impact of providing daily meals to children who are vulnerable because of poverty, climate change, conflict, and other challenges.
As school feeding experts, we understand that school meals are key to receiving a quality education. Our findings show that our meals a powerful means for children to remain in school, thrive, and develop – and, longer term, the presence of our school feeding programme helps to build stronger, more resilient communities.
We are constantly learning and seeking to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our approach to school feeding. We engage with children, parents and teachers to learn about how daily school meals reduce hunger, and how they improve a child’s readiness to learn by bolstering school attendance, participation, and concentration – factors that can determine a child’s progression through school.
Hunger reduction: Our research shows that children’s hunger decreases when daily meals are introduced at school. Children who feel less hungry at school may also worry less about when they will eat next – even if it’s not certain that there will be food available at home.
School attendance: Our school feeding programmes reduce how often children miss school and encourage them to stay in school for the full day. Teachers tell us that the introduction of Mary’s Meals improves children’s attendance and that far fewer learners leave early because of hunger.
Concentration and participation: Reliable school meals help children to concentrate on their lessons and participate more actively in the classroom, as well as giving them energy to play with their friends during playtime. Children consistently tell us that school meals make them less tired and more able to focus on their work or the teacher talking.
The children we serve are at the heart of all that we do and their voices are key to understanding our impact. Ensuring that children eat at school each day is what drives us forward and, by doing all that we can to ensure the provision of a reliable daily meal in a place of education, we are supporting hunger reduction, quality education, and keeping children in school.
The ripple effect of school meals on communities
Beyond the immediate impact of daily meals have on children – including reducing hunger, increasing energy, and improving concentration – our school feeding programme has also been a catalyst for wider socio-economic and health-related benefits seen in households and communities. These include:
- Improved food security – knowing that their children will eat at school means that parents worry less about household food stocks from Monday to Friday.
- More flexibility with household resources –children receiving a meal at school means they are more likely to stay in class all day, which allows parents to redirect resources like food and time to other needs.
- Strong community cohesion – households come together to deliver the feeding programme for the children in their community and build stronger bonds as they do.
- Increased availability for work – parents don’t have to return home during the day to try to provide a lunch for school-going children (or care for those returning early because of hunger).
- Improved health and hygiene – children experience benefits that they attribute to the daily meal and regular handwashing.
To find out more about the impact of our work in 2024, including a comprehensive overview of our 2024 expansions and the difference our meals are making in newly added schools, please read our 2024 Annual Impact Report.
