Press Releases

Students from Easingwold School get to taste the porridge meal eaten every day by half a million other children in 16 countries

Date: 8/11/2011

Students from award winning Easingwold School, near York, will hear all about the work of Mary’s Meals at an assembly on Thursday 10^th November as part of LACA’s (Local Authority Caterers Association) National School Meals Week (NSMW).  Mary’s Meals is the international charity that runs school feeding programmes in some of the world’s poorest countries.

They will also have the opportunity to try the nutritious porridge that Mary’s Meals feeds to more than half a million children in 16 countries around the world every day, including Malawi, Haiti and Liberia.  Mary’s Meals has recently been delivering 200 tonnes of emergency food aid to famine-hit Somalia as part of its response to the East Africa crisis. 

During the assembly Bob Davies, Catering Manager will be presented with his award, Secondary School Caterer of the Year, from EDUcatering magazine by Managing Director, Alan Dewberry.

NSMW is one of the largest healthy eating promotions that is taking place in nearly 20,000 schools across the country from 7^th to 11^th November.  There are different themes each day and the aim of today is to show how lucky students are to have the choice of a healthy and nutritious meal at school each day.  This is in contrast with children across the other side of the world that are coming to school not just to learn but to have their only meal of the day and so ward off hunger.

Lynda Mitchell, National Chair of LACA, said “I am delighted that LACA is working very closely with Mary’s Meals and our partner Change4Life today. I know that some schools are raising money for the charity while others have downloaded the quizzes created by Change4Life.  They are all helping to create a whole school approach to help students understand the needs of five-a-day.  This must be a great way forward for all schools”

Mrs Carey Chidwick, Head Teacher at Easingwold School, added, ““I am delighted to welcome the NSMW Tour to Easingwold School.  This is an important opportunity for our students to listen to someone working closely about the issues facing other parts of the world.  We are fortunate that we are able to provide good nutritious meals here and we focus on driving home the messages about healthy eating and giving our students the very best start in life.

Tony Begley, Education Co-ordinator at Mary’s Meals, explained, “We are very grateful for this opportunity to promote the work of Mary’s Meals at Easingwold School and, thanks to LACA, across the country.  Mary’s Meals is a simple idea that works. By providing a daily meal at school, chronically poor children are attracted to the classroom where, through education, they can escape poverty and gain a better future for themselves and their communities.  During National School Meals Week, we hope to give our young people an insight into the lives of the children fed by Mary’s Meals, so that they can come to appreciate how fortunate they are to have access to good food, particularly fruit and vegetables, which are so important for a healthy and balanced diet.”

Keith Tillbrook, Head of North Yorkshire County Caterers, commented, “We are very proud of Bob and the awards he has won.  He is a fantastic example to other school caterers and provides outstanding food that students enjoy from one day to another.”

Bob Davies, Secondary School Caterer of the Year, said, “We have a lot planned to celebrate NSMW and increase awareness of the importance of having five portions of fruit and vegetables each day.  There is a healthy eating display in the dining room, lots of healthy dishes to eat, a display about Mary’s Meals and buckets by the till for people to drop change in.  This will be given to Mary’s Meals.”