A Christmas present Mary’s Meals means to multiply

Dalmally charity, Mary’s Meals, has had an imaginative Christmas present and is quickly setting about making it raise money to feed children in the some of poorest countries in the world.

Mary’s Meals’ 2010 calendar, featuring photographs from Malawi, Haiti and Thailand, was a gift from a supporter who produced 3,000 copies at his own expense.

Buy one and feed a child for a year – yes, a year.

At £8.40, the price of each calendar reflects the average cost of feeding a child in school for a year.

Operations Manager Alan Brown says: ”Mary’s Meals is in the fortunate and unusual position of having been given these beautiful calendars, which means that we don’t have to meet any design or production costs and can divert the money raised straight to our projects’.

While many charities receive less than 10 per cent of the money made from festive products sold in their name, all the cash from this year’s Mary’s Meals calendar sales will directly fund the charity’s work, providing children with a nutritious daily meal and encouraging them to go to school.

A survey just completed in November for the Charities Advisory Trust found that many high street stores give less then 10 per cent of the money raised from charity Christmas cards to the charity in question. Mary’s Meals spends 93p in every £1 raised on its overseas projects.

Alan Brown is specific about what Mary’s Meals is asking for with the calendars.

‘We are asking shops, businesses and community groups to help us to sell them, in the hope that we can keep retail costs close to zero as well.

‘If you have a stall at an event, or a space to spare in your store, it would be wonderful if you could use it to help us’.

The portrait shaped month-to-view calendars display each month in English, French and Spanish. Every page features images from a Mary’s Meals project (it works in 15 of the world’s poorest countries) and a quote from an inspirational figure like Nelson Mandela.

Buying a Mary’s Meals calendar for Christmas is a gift that gives twice – the first recipient gets a calendar, and the second, a child, will get a meal for every day that they are in school in 2010.

You can buy the calendars online or by phone on 01838 200605.

To offer to help with sales, please:

• phone: 01838 200605
• email: info@marysmeals.org