By Jill Buchanan
The generous donation of 拢2350 to the Mary’s Meals charity came from a recent Antiques Valuation Day held in conjunction with Great Western Auctions at the Leapark Hotel. This includes a 拢500 donation from local firm Jarvie Plant Ltd. Mary鈥檚 Meals serves a nutritious daily meal to some of the world鈥檚 poorest children to attract them into the classroom where they can gain an education and a brighter future. There are 71 million primary school-age children out of school around the world; they have to work or beg to survive. And when they do make it into the classroom, hunger affects their ability to learn. Mary鈥檚 Meals started in a tin shed in the Scottish Highland village of Dalmally in 2002, after Founder Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow met a 14-year-old boy called Edward, in Malawi. Edward was the eldest of six children, all sitting with their mother who was dying of AIDS. Magnus asked him what he hoped for in life and Edward replied: “I would like to have enough food to eat and to be able to go to school one day.” This interaction sparked the foundation of Mary鈥檚 Meals and today the charity provides nutritious school meals to more than 2.6 million children every day across 16 countries, including Malawi, Haiti, India, and Syria.