Rotary Club of Shrewsbury GUEST SPEAKERS – Elaine and David Brannon
Elaine and David Brannon pictured with Rotary Club of Shrewsbury President John Siviter At the Rotary Club of Shrewsbury luncheon on 21 October 2015 our speakers were Elaine and David Brannon from the charity Mary’s Meals which helps support and educate starving children mainly in Malawi. It operates from unpretentious headquarters in Argyll, Scotland – the shed that fed a million children. Mary had lost both parents by the age of ten and had two younger sisters to look after. Mary’s Meals ensures she still gets an education even with that heavy responsibility. Both speakers thanked our club for our recent donation of over fifty backpacks containing pencils and paper. Their video, although silent, clearly showed the magical delight of the young recipients when these were received. Nutritious meals are attracting over a million children into schools instead of scavenging for food scraps; maximum benefit to the local economy is achieved by local sourcing and parental management of the aid. Mary’s Meals keeps overheads to just seven pence of every pound donated and Elaine told us it costs £12.20 to feed a child for a whole year. Currently there is extra support from the UK government which will match all donations made before Christmas 2015. www.marysmeals.org.uk Summary report by Rtn Alan Wilding.
Mary, now 15, and her sisters