Alex Trelinski
A SCOTTISH charity has won a Princess of Asturias award for ‘its exemplary dedication to helping resolve some of the world’s most pressing problems’.
The Asturias jury has given its Concord Prize to Mary’s Meals based in Dalmally, Argyll, for helping to feed schoolchildren in extreme poverty around the world.
Previous winners of the Concord Prize include Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, chef Jose Andres, and Spain’s health workers during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mary’s Meals started as ‘Scottish International Relief’ in 1992 before taking on its current name in 2002 with its first school meals programme in Malawi.
The charity is named after Mary, mother of Jesus, who brought up her own child in poverty.
Mary’s Meals 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.
The promise of a good meal attracts hungry children into the classroom which the charity says ‘gives them the energy to learn and give hope for a better future’.
Founder, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow said: “Mary’s Meals is a series of lots of little acts of love.”
“If you put all these acts of sacrifice together, it creates a beautiful thing.”
The charity wins €50,000 and is one of eight award winners that will be acknowledged at a ceremony in Oviedo on October 20.
Other winners this year include Meryl Streep for the arts, Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami for literature, and marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge for sport.
READ MORE:
- Top Japanese author Haruki Murakami wins Princess of Asturias literature award in Spain
- Marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge wins Princess of Asturias sports award in Spain
- Hollywood legend Meryl Streep wins prestigious Princess of Asturias arts award in Spain
