YOUNG Sydney Catholic Lachlan Mitchell, 26, is on a mission to feed and educate children across the world.
Mr Mitchell, 26, said his story began on an immersion to Cambodia when he was a teenager.
“I saw first-hand the floating villages outside of Siem Reap, where whole families live in stilt houses or wooden homes floating on the river,” he said.
“Then, just the next day, I was back eating a burger at my local takeout.
“I suppose that experience really marked me with a desire to serve the poorest of the poor and do something of purpose and impact with my life.”
He said his life took a 180-degree turn when he had a conversion experience at 18 years old.
“Before that, I wanted to be a rich and famous actor, figuring that was how I would make my way in the world,” he said.
“But after those experiences, both in Cambodia and later at a Catholic retreat, I found myself wanting to make a personal impact on people’s lives as a missionary.”
Mr Mitchell went on to study liberal arts and theology at Notre Dame University in Sydney.
He worked in youth ministry and did odd jobs before he moved, “on a whim”, to Scotland.
There, he connected with a community doing mission work in schools, parishes, and a retreat centre called Craig Lodge Family House of Prayer.
He lived there for a year with seven other young people full-time.
It was here he learned about Mary’s Meals Movement, which was founded by the same family at the lodge and based there, too.
He worked as a volunteer with them for a while before he applied for a job to take Mary’s Meals to Australia.
“As I prayed about my next steps, I just felt like this was the thing God was leading me more towards Mary’s Meals,” he said.
“It had a real kind of supernatural quality to it as it all came together.
“The opportunity to pioneer something like that was exciting too, especially since I know how effective and good Mary’s Meals is.”
Mr Mitchel said the charity’s origins “started, as all good stories do, with two brothers walking into a bar”.
In 1990, founder Magnus McFarlane Barrow walked into a bar with his brother, Fergus, in Scotland.
They were discussing the Bosnian War and decided to take up an appeal to help.
“To their surprise, people gave generously, and they drove back and forth from Scotland to Bosnia 23 times,” Mr Mitchell said.
“Over time, the work expanded, and people kept giving.”
Then, in 2002, Magnus met a young boy, Edward, in Africa, whose mother was dying of AIDS.
When Magnus asked Edward what his dream was, he said that he wanted to have enough food to eat and one day, to go to school.
Mary’s Meals started feeding 200 children in Malawi in 2002.
Now, every school day, Mary’s Meals feeds more than 2.4 million children one meal at their place of education in 17 of the world’s poorest countries.
“One meal at school meets the immediate need for food but also addresses the underlying cause of poverty by drawing children into the classroom, where they get the education that helps lift them out of poverty,” he said.
The reason Mary was chosen as the patroness was because the two brothers had a conversion experience at Medjugorje and those early links to eastern Europe.
“Mary’s role is fitting,” Mr Mitchell said, “because she embodies the care every mother has for her child.”
He said his work building up a partnership arm in Australia was going well.
“I believe God really wants this to succeed, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many people have caught the vision—especially in schools and parishes,” he said.
He said the biggest challenge for him was that the movement was just not very well known in Australia.
“It’s such a unique and effective charity, and I truly believe it will thrive,” he said.
“The challenge is building relationships and finding the right partners in parishes, schools, and businesses who will help us tell the story and spread the mission.”
He said he was glad to be able to play his part.
“I think this work has given expression to my desire to know God,” he said.
“It’s like the rubber hits the road—what do you do with the things you learn? Do you keep it to yourself, or do you give it away? This is an opportunity to practice what I’ve learned and give love to others.”
To find out more about Mary’s Meals Movement, head to: marysmeals.org.au
