A charity group in Scotland, Mary’s Meals, won a prestigious Spanish prize this week for its work feeding schoolchildren facing extreme poverty across the globe.
The jury that decides the Princess of Asturias Awards gave Mary’s Meals its Concord Prize for ‘its exemplary dedication to helping resolve some of the world’s most pressing problems’.
Founded by Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, the charity, based in the Scottish village of Dalmally, started as Scottish International Relief in 1992 before taking on its current name in 2002 with its first school meals programme in Malawi. It now helps more than 2.4 million schoolchildren eat every day in 18 different countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East.
Mary’s Meals has affiliate offices throughout Europe and North America, including one in Spain. Led by Executive Director Marta Manen Orbaneja, supporters and volunteers across the country raise awareness and vital donations to fund daily meals in a place of education for some of the world’s most vulnerable children living in poverty within challenging environments, such as Tigray in Ethiopia, Turkana in Kenya, South Sudan, Haiti, India, Yemen and Syria.
MacFarlane-Barrow said: ‘We are deeply honoured and grateful to be chosen for this hugely prestigious award. We will be happy to accept it on behalf of all those people who are working with Mary’s Meals all over the world to ensure that every child in this world might receive a daily meal in their place of education.’
‘In a special way, we accept it on behalf of the thousands of people living in poverty who volunteer their time each day as a gift to cook and serve the hungry children in their communities,’ he added. ‘And we look forward very much to the ceremony in Oviedo in October.’
The €50,000 Concord Prize is one of eight awards, including for the arts, sciences and sports, handed out annually by the foundation named for Spanish Crown Princess Leonor.
Previous winners of the Concord Prize include Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, Spanish chef José Andrés, and Spain’s health workers during the coronavirus pandemic.
ALSO READ: Meryl Streep wins Spain’s Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts.
¿Conoces la trayectoria de @MarysMeals, Premio Princesa de Asturias de la Concordia 2023?
— Fundación Princesa de Asturias (@fpa) June 14, 2023
🗣️ Únete a la conversación con el hashtag #PremiosPrincesadeAsturias. https://t.co/Xf8qQscrtd
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