Celebrate World Porridge Day Every October 10
On October 10 we celebrate porridge, that rather mushy dish made by boiling grains or other starchy plant materials in water or milk.
No, that’s actually not quite right. We’re not really celebrating the food. Rather World Porridge Day raises awareness of how porridge can help provide nutrition to desperately poor children.
Specifically, the important role of porridge in Mary’s Meals projects.
What is Mary’s Meals
Mary’s Meals is a charity based in Scotland. It provides poor children with a meal (often porridge) at school or another education-based setting.
The idea is to attract them with the food and keep them around to get an education. The food nourishes their bodies. The education nourishes their minds and gives them the chance to escape poverty.
The charity has projects in 17 countries and feeds more than 1 million children each day. Some countries it works in include Haiti, Burma, India, Kenya, Zambia, Liberia, and Thailand.
Its first project was in Malawi, where it started feeding 200 children in 2002.
It costs less than $20 to feed a child with porridge for an entire year!
The inspiration for the name Mary’s Meals is Jesus’ mother, who raised her son in poverty too.
Scroll down for some ideas on celebrating this unofficial charitable holiday.
Ideas For Celebrating World Porridge Day
Since this isn’t about the food, eating porridge isn’t necessary today.
Although you may still want to serve it. …
Possibly as part of a fundraiser to benefit Mary’s Meals. Do it on your own or suggest your company host one. If you work at a school, this would be a wonderful way to show kids how easily they can help other kids have a better life.
There are lots of different porridge recipes around (it’s basically oatmeal or a similar cooked grain). Cook up a few different ones and let your donors choose which looks best. Try one of these recipes:
- Porridge, lots of ways from Jamie Oliver: Jamie supplies a basic porridge recipe plus ideas for add-ins and toppings. Try them all!
- Perfect porridge: Simple but delicious.
- Whole-Grain Breakfast Porridge: This one uses a mixture of different grains.
But it doesn’t have to be only about porridge. Include a raffle or silent auction in your event. Have games or tastings (not necessarily porridge!) for a small donation.
If you’re not up to having a whole fundraiser, make a donation to Mary’s Meals to feed a child for a year. Remember, it’s less than $20!
You can also sponsor a school for a year.
Although Mary’s Meals is based in Scotland, it is also registered as a US charity. Most of the links we’ve provided go to the main Mary’s Meals website. If you’re more comfortable, it also has a mirror site for Mary’s Meals USA and a US mailing address in New Jersey.
And as always, do your own research on Mary’s Meals before you donate. We can’t tell you if you’ll approve of all the ways they use donations. Only you can decide that!
