Martha Payne
Charity names school kitchen in Malawi in honour of Martha Payne's NeverSeconds blog
Mary’s Meals, the charity that is benefiting from funds raised by the Scottish school dinner blogger Martha Payne, has decided to name a new kitchen after the blog, which has raised more than £82,000 for the charity.
The blog, called NeverSeconds, hit the headlines last week after the nine-year-old Payne was banned by Argyll and Bute Council from taking pictures of her dinners as part of a daily review of her school meals.
The council swiftly overturned its decision after a flood of protests from followers of the blog, which had attracted readers from all over the world and has recorded almost six million page views.
Payne had set out to raise £7,000 for the charity, which provides dinners for children in some of the world’s poorest countries, but the total has passed £82,000.
Mary’s Meals said it had decided to name a new kitchen in Malawi ‘Friends of NeverSeconds’.
"Martha’s support for Mary’s Meals has been incredible and we are extremely grateful for everything that she has done to help us reach some of the hungriest children in the world," a spokeswoman for the charity said.
"We are overwhelmed by the huge response to her efforts, which has led to so many more people donating to her online donation page.
"Thanks to this fantastic support, Martha has now raised enough money to build a kitchen in Malawi and to feed an entire school with Mary’s Meals for a whole year as part of our ‘Sponsor A School’ initiative."
The school, called the Lirangwe Primary School in Blantyre, Malawi, has almost 2,000 pupils.
Additional funds raised through the blog will also feed almost 6,000 school children elsewhere for a year, the Mary’s Meals spokeswoman said.
