Massive Niagara Falls has been lit up in blue in honour of Argyll-based charity Mary’s Meals.
The special floodlighting is to mark the launch of The Shed That Fed A Million Children – the book written by the global child hunger charity’s founder, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow.
Huge blue spotlights illuminated the famous landmark to celebrate the book and to show support for Mary’s Meals.
The Shed That Fed A Million Children charts the remarkable story of the charity which encourages children, who may otherwise be forced to work or beg, to come to school through its community-run school feeding programmes.
The illumination coincided with a visit to Canada by Mr MacFarlane Barrow who was in the country to talk to supporters about his book, which hit the Sunday Times bestseller list immediately after its release.
He said: “To have a famous landmark like Niagara Falls lit up in Mary’s Meals blue was hugely special for all of us that are part of this global movement. It comes just a couple of weeks after we celebrated reaching a million children every day with a nutritious meal at school.
“The support we have received in Canada is just extraordinary and it is really wonderful to know the number of people around the world who are joining us, to ensure that every child receives a daily meal in their place of education.”
Mary’s Meals now feeds 1,035,637 of the world’s poorest children with a nutritious meal every day they attend school, in countries including Liberia, Kenya, Malawi, Haiti and India.
The charity has grown phenomenally over the last few years, and enjoys support from fundraising groups across the globe – in Australia, Austria, Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, UAE, UK and USA – as well as from celebrities such as Gerard Butler and Celine Dion.
Mary’s Meals is committed to keeping its running costs low, ensuring that at least 93% of all donations are spent directly on charitable activities.
It costs just £12.20 for Mary’s Meals to feed a hungry child for a school year. The nutritious daily meal draws chronically hungry children into the classroom, where they can receive an education that can help them escape poverty in the future.
The Shed that Fed a Million Children by Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow is out now, published by William Collins in the UK.