Summary: Around 64 million of the world’s hungriest children do not attend school. In order to survive, they have to work or beg for food. For millions more who do make it into the classroom, hunger affects their ability to learn.
Mary’s Meals is currently providing a daily school meal to over 2 million children in 20 developing countries around the world. We are working on changing the lives and future of chronically hungry children and their communities. But we can’t do it without your help.
Mary’s Meals is a low-cost, grassroots organization. Our global average cost to feed a child (a nutritious daily meal at school) for one year is just $22.60. We need volunteers to help promote our organization in your community, as volunteer Ambassadors for Mary’s Meals. Join our local Fredericton team and make a difference today! Please email volunteer@marysmeals.ca for more info about your local volunteer team.
Key Duties and Responsibilities: Mary’s Meals Ambassadors raise awareness in their communities of the 64 million+ children who are out of school due to chronic hunger and the ways that Canadians can easily help. By becoming an Ambassador for Mary’s Meals, you become a voice for chronically hungry children, their families and communities. As an Ambassador you offer the opportunity for others to join our global family and increase the number of children we can reach with a daily meal at school. Your help is needed to raise awareness of our mission in churches, schools, businesses, community groups, etc.
Ambassadors’ responsibilities include providing information to personal contacts and other community members about the work of Mary’s Meals and its importance to children and communities. You will be responsible to develop and implement activities to increase awareness of our mission and programs. Volunteers may choose which activities they would like to participate in such as:
- Distributing brochures and educational information
- Putting up posters or setting up information displays at local businesses, organizations, churches, schools, etc.
- Giving presentations to local groups, schools, churches, etc.
- Setting up information booths at local events or conferences to educate the public about child hunger, barriers to education and our Simple Solution to World Hunger
- Organizing awareness-raising events such as screening one of our half-hour documentaries https://www.marysmeals.ca/en/get-involved/book-and-films/
- Participating in local events such as craft sales, bake sales, community garage sales to raise funds for, and awareness of Mary’s Meals
- Building and maintaining a network of contacts in your community who are interested in our work; keeping them informed about local events; sharing inspiring stories and successes from program countries
- Fundraising can be a component of any events you organize
Desired Qualifications: Knowledgeable of Mary’s Meals (orientation provided), passionate about helping the world’s poorest children, kind and respectful, self-motivated, positive attitude
Support Provided: Handbook and orientation, quarterly meetings with other volunteers where possible, personal support from local Team Leader or other Mary’s Meals staff/volunteers
Location: Positions are available in communities across Canada
Required Availability: Position is flexible, we ask for a commitment of a few hours per month; volunteers can be short-term or long-term
Start Date: Ongoing
Benefits to Volunteer: Benefits include a volunteer t-shirt, being a valued part of a global family that is helping a large number of children in some of the world’s poorest communities, social gatherings and volunteer appreciation events, learning about your impact on children in need through receiving information from program countries regularly, opportunity to develop skills such as public speaking, presentation skills, leadership, organization skills, etc., gain experience that can be used on your resume
Results of your Efforts: By more people being aware of Mary’s Meals and given the opportunity to join our mission, ultimately, we can reach more children who are in need of our school feeding programs.
Our vision is that every child receives one daily meal in their place of education and that all those who have more than they need, share with those who lack even the most basic things.
Our mission is to enable people to offer their money, goods, skills, time, or prayer, and through this involvement, provide the most effective help to those suffering the effects of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest communities.
We welcome all into the Mary’s Meals family and we believe everyone has something important to contribute to the realization of our vision.
We hope you’ll consider joining our family. To apply for this volunteer position, please email your interest to volunteer.canada@marysmeals.org
