On Saturday 22nd June, the intrepid #TUCOfamily of The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO) took on the challenge of walking 22 miles around Ullswater Valley in the Lake District to raise money for charity, Mary’s Meals.
Since appointed chairman in 2017, Matthew White has spearheaded the TUCO campaign to support Mary’s Meals and has raised more than £100,000 to date. It costs just £13.90 for Mary’s Meals to feed a child for a school year in some of the world’s poorest communities. From the generosity of TUCO’s members and suppliers, 3,500 schoolchildren in Malawi have benefitted from the campaign.
More than 40 TUCO members, partners and friends set off from the northeast corner of the lake at Pooley Bridge and made their way through Howstown, Patterdale and Glenridding. Whilst trekking through forests, farmlands and passing some beautiful scenery, the group walked through the wonderful Glencoyne Wood, where Wordsworth wrote his most famous poem ‘Daffodils’.
Matthew White, TUCO Chairman said:
“I am extremely proud of our #TUCOfamily for completing the 22-mile trek around Ullswater Valley. Not only are we given the opportunity to feed school children in some of the poorest communities in the world, but we are also nourishing their minds with education. We want to aid the potential in these young people as they begin their lives in extremely difficult circumstances.”
Last year, TUCO presented a cheque of £18,140 to charity Mary’s Meals. £13,900 was raised from the #TUCOfamily climbing the UK’s largest mountain, Ben Nevis in Scotland, and additional donations were made by attendees at the annual TUCO Conference in July 2018. The money went on to feed an astonishing 1,305 school children in Malawi.
Frank Nelson, head of fundraising at Mary’s Meals, said:
“We are extremely grateful to the TUCO family for helping us transform the lives of more hungry children with Mary’s Meals through their amazing and tireless fundraising efforts.
He continued:
“Our work to feed children in impoverished countries every day where they attend school would not be possible without the generosity of our superstar supporters who are giving food and hope to some of the world’s poorest children.”
In September 2018, Matthew White and Mike Haslin CEO of TUCO had the opportunity to visit Malawi to discover first-hand how TUCO members’ donations have positively affected children receiving Mary’s Meals. During the visit, they travelled to two schools TUCO are sponsoring, Mlambe Primary School and Milare Primary School. TUCO has donated enough funds to ensure these two schools can provide a meal every school day to its children until 2020. Following this trip, White and Haslin commented on how their experience was a ‘humbling one’ and have pledged to set higher donation targets for coming years and if possible, extend the partnership beyond 2020.
Mary’s Meals began by feeding just 200 children in Malawi in 2002. Now it is providing life-changing meals to over 1.4 million children every school day in 18 countries worldwide, including Malawi, Liberia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Haiti, Kenya, India and South Sudan.
Mary’s Meals provides a daily meal in a place of learning in order to attract chronically poor children into the classroom, where they receive an education that can, in the future, be their ladder out of poverty.
For more information about TUCO’s challenge and to make a donation visit https://www.marysmeals.org.uk/fundraising/project/matthew-white/trek-22