£7 Million Raised for School Meals: A Decade of Impact

Generous players of People’s Postcode Lottery in Greater Manchester have helped raise more than £7m for the international school feeding charity Mary’s Meals, supporting its transformational work to encourage hungry children into the classroom and help them build a brighter future through education.

Founded in a shed in the Scottish Highlands, Mary’s Meals serves daily school meals to more than three million children in some of the world’s poorest communities. The charity’s school feeding programme provides nutritious daily meals that attract children into the classroom, where education becomes a pathway out of poverty.

The decade-long partnership between People’s Postcode Lottery and Mary’s Meals has achieved remarkable success. Thanks to players, 478,968 children now get nutritious meals every school day, with more than 39 million meals served to date in 16 countries around the world through this support.

Laura Chow, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, says: “It’s fantastic to know that for a decade our players have supported the essential work of Mary’s Meals – and have now raised an incredible £7 million to help children across the globe access nutritious meals. This funding helps children in some of the most undeserved communities go to school well-fed, ready to learn, and full of hope for a brighter future.”

During the first seven years of the partnership, funding from People’s Postcode Lottery players played a key role in supporting Mary’s Meals’ work, including Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Zambia, Madagascar, Ethiopia, and South Sudan, as well as strengthening the organization through key organizational development projects.

More recently, funding has been provided on an unrestricted basis, enabling Mary’s Meals to direct resources where they are needed most across all 16 countries where it operates.

The school feeding programme addresses a variety of challenges, including educational barriers and gender inequality. Girls account for 50% of the children benefiting from Mary’s Meals, yet with 119 million girls still out of school worldwide, ensuring access to education remains a vital step in breaking the cycle of poverty.

For 12-year-old Efigénia, who attends Tindzawene Primary School in Mozambique, the promise of a daily school meal is a source of hope in challenging times. She says: “With school meals, I feel good because even with a lack of food at home, here at school I have a meal and I can study.”

Over the past ten years, players from Greater Manchester have helped support significant milestones in the Mary’s Meals journey, from feeding one million children in 2015 to the expansion of school feeding programmes in Tigray, Ethiopia, and Syria in 2017, and the launch of a new programme in Mozambique in 2024.

At the end of last year, Mary’s Meals reached a major milestone, now serving daily school meals to more than three million children worldwide. This achievement was driven by programme expansions in the first half of 2025, which saw 462,000 additional children across Ethiopia, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, South Sudan, Zambia, and Zimbabwe benefit from the school feeding programme. Such progress would not have been possible without the vital support of People’s Postcode Lottery players, whose contributions continue to fuel the charity’s growth.

Gemma Love, Philanthropy and Institutional Partnerships Manager, says: “We are incredibly grateful to People’s Postcode Lottery players in Greater Manchester, whose ongoing support is helping us reach more children than ever before with a daily school meal that encourages learning, brings hope, and changes lives.

“Seeing the difference this support makes for children and communities inspires us to keep going and to reach even more children in the years ahead.”

To find out more about the work of Mary’s Meals and ways to get involved, please visit marysmeals.org.uk.