Mary’s Meals Premieres Lettie, a Powerful Film on How School Meals Spark Lasting Change
BLOOMFIELD, NJ, UNITED STATES, April 22, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Mary’s Meals premieres its new film, Lettie, which revisits the story of a young girl in Malawi who was featured in its 2012 award-winning documentary Child 31, and whose experience of hunger left a lasting impression on audiences.
When Mary’s Meals first met Leticia (Lettie) in 2012, she was just 11-years-old. Following the death of her parents, she was out of school and caring for her younger brothers while facing severe hunger herself. More than a decade later, the organization returns to her story to show where her life has taken her.
Today, Lettie is an educated, working mother in Malawi, providing for her son, who is excelling in school. She is a powerful example of what daily school meals can help make possible – not only reducing hunger at school, but helping to create the conditions for hope, opportunity, and lasting change that can carry forward into adulthood, family life, and the next generation.
Lettie’s story reflects the impact school feeding can have on children across Mary’s Meals’ school feeding programs. In Malawi, where the charity has been serving daily school meals since 2003, more than 1,315,000 children now receive its meals every school day – more than a quarter of the country’s pre-primary and primary school children. That support is especially significant, as less than half of children in Malawi complete primary school. Many families in Malawi also continue to face food insecurity, with 6.8 million people experiencing insufficient food consumption.
Lettie’s connection to Mary’s Meals has come full circle. She has worked for Mary’s Meals Malawi since 2022 and is also a Youth Ambassador for the organization, sharing the stories of children receiving school meals.
“I am a survivor – one of many children whose lives have been transformed by Mary’s Meals. My parents died when I was very young, and hunger was a constant companion. Some days we went without food; some nights we lay awake not knowing where we would sleep and what we would eat the next day. As a child, I was also a parent, taking care of my young siblings. I was on the verge of losing hope, but then I met Mary’s Meals,” said Lettie.
Lettie is just one example of the long-term impact school meals can have. For more than two decades, Mary’s Meals has served daily school meals to children, bringing hope of a brighter future to children, families and communities. In 2026, the charity is reaching more than 3 million children in 16 countries, including Malawi, it’s first and largest school-feeding program country.
Lettie is now available on YouTube.
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About Mary’s Meals
Now in its 24th year, Mary’s Meals is a global movement that sets up school-feeding programs in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities, where conflict, poverty and hunger often prevent children from gaining an education. Mary’s Meals works with in-country volunteers and trusted partners to provide one daily nutritious meal in a place of learning to bring children into the classroom to receive an education. This simple solution to help end world hunger also enables children to lift themselves from the cycle of hunger and poverty.
Mary’s Meals began by feeding 200 children in Malawi in 2002. Today, the organization feeds more than 3 million children every school day in over 5,000 schools in the following countries: Benin, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Mary’s Meals is part of the global School Meals Coalition, an emerging initiative of governments and partners to drive actions that can urgently reestablish, improve, and scale up food and education systems. For more information about Mary’s Meals, visit marysmealsusa.org.
Follow Mary’s Meals USA on Facebook and Instagram.
When Mary’s Meals first met Leticia (Lettie) in 2012, she was just 11-years-old. Following the death of her parents, she was out of school and caring for her younger brothers while facing severe hunger herself. More than a decade later, the organization returns to her story to show where her life has taken her.
Today, Lettie is an educated, working mother in Malawi, providing for her son, who is excelling in school. She is a powerful example of what daily school meals can help make possible – not only reducing hunger at school, but helping to create the conditions for hope, opportunity, and lasting change that can carry forward into adulthood, family life, and the next generation.
Lettie’s story reflects the impact school feeding can have on children across Mary’s Meals’ school feeding programs. In Malawi, where the charity has been serving daily school meals since 2003, more than 1,315,000 children now receive its meals every school day – more than a quarter of the country’s pre-primary and primary school children. That support is especially significant, as less than half of children in Malawi complete primary school. Many families in Malawi also continue to face food insecurity, with 6.8 million people experiencing insufficient food consumption.
Lettie’s connection to Mary’s Meals has come full circle. She has worked for Mary’s Meals Malawi since 2022 and is also a Youth Ambassador for the organization, sharing the stories of children receiving school meals.
“I am a survivor – one of many children whose lives have been transformed by Mary’s Meals. My parents died when I was very young, and hunger was a constant companion. Some days we went without food; some nights we lay awake not knowing where we would sleep and what we would eat the next day. As a child, I was also a parent, taking care of my young siblings. I was on the verge of losing hope, but then I met Mary’s Meals,” said Lettie.
Lettie is just one example of the long-term impact school meals can have. For more than two decades, Mary’s Meals has served daily school meals to children, bringing hope of a brighter future to children, families and communities. In 2026, the charity is reaching more than 3 million children in 16 countries, including Malawi, it’s first and largest school-feeding program country.
Lettie is now available on YouTube.
— END —
About Mary’s Meals
Now in its 24th year, Mary’s Meals is a global movement that sets up school-feeding programs in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities, where conflict, poverty and hunger often prevent children from gaining an education. Mary’s Meals works with in-country volunteers and trusted partners to provide one daily nutritious meal in a place of learning to bring children into the classroom to receive an education. This simple solution to help end world hunger also enables children to lift themselves from the cycle of hunger and poverty.
Mary’s Meals began by feeding 200 children in Malawi in 2002. Today, the organization feeds more than 3 million children every school day in over 5,000 schools in the following countries: Benin, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Mary’s Meals is part of the global School Meals Coalition, an emerging initiative of governments and partners to drive actions that can urgently reestablish, improve, and scale up food and education systems. For more information about Mary’s Meals, visit marysmealsusa.org.
Follow Mary’s Meals USA on Facebook and Instagram.
Helena Finnegan
Mary's Meals USA
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