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Happy New Year!
Welcome to the Magic Breakfast website and thank you for your interest in our work.
We start the New Year with 200 partner schools, all at primary level and with over 50% free school meals, we now feed 6,000 children every school day, all over the country. We have a waiting list of 80 schools, which we’d like to support as soon as able to raise funds. Magic Breakfast has been described as a “valuable lifeline for vulnerable families” and as a small charity, with a staff team of just three, we are determined to continue our delivery of food aid to schools around the country, where pupils arrive too hungry or malnourished to learn. We care passionately about these children and their education – simply being fed makes such a difference to them.
Our New Year’s resolution? Well, we feel it’s time to harness the social drive and compassion evident around us to solve child hunger as a barrier to education in this country, for good. In 2011, we were delighted to win the Prime Ministers’ Big Society Award, as well as learn that in 2012 we will be supported by the Mayor’s Fund for London. As a society, don’t you feel we can do better than allow thousands of children to miss their valuable schooling, simply because they are hungry?
In this exciting Olympic year, what better aim than to ensure UK schoolchildren are fuelled to learn, exercise and enjoy their school day? That’s what we plan to do, with your help.
School partners tell us that Magic Breakfast measurably improves child attendance, punctuality, concentration and behaviour. We start the year with many of our partner schools reporting growing financial hardship in their parent communities which makes our early years investment in child health and primary education even more important. A hungry child cannot concentrate, and risks losing four hours of morning lessons - often the most important on the curriculum. Those four lost hours mount up, undermining the wider classroom experience and work to improve school standards. It costs £3.50 per month, or £42 to feed a child every school day for one year, so if you are able, clicking on our donate page would be such a help.
Our priorities for 2012? Feed hungry children, help parents and children get into the habit of a healthy breakfast, and support schools to develop self funded breakfast clubs. If you are in our partner schools, thank you for being an oasis of learning, and please do all you can to provide our food without charge wherever possible. We offer porridge, healthy cereals, bagels and fresh juice, and as you know, I’m particularly keen for our children to enjoy a bowl of porridge first thing – it’s great energy food, cheap and incredibly healthy. So please help our porridge push in 2012!
As a small charity, we are particularly grateful to everyone who has generously helped us and for the support of our corporate allies, including Quaker and Tropicana (part of PepsiCo), Pearson, Morgan Stanley and John Lewis. We know that many business leaders are keen to play their part when it comes to community engagement, employee development and fundraising. We look forward to a year where even more vulnerable children are fed, encouraged and ready to learn. Thank you for all you are doing to help us,
With love,
Carmel McConnell
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