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The Christadelphian Meal-a-Day Fund (CMaD) is an international family of charities founded by the Christadelphians.[1] Its stated intent is, as a practical witness to the Christadelphian faith, 'to share the blessings we receive from God to help those who are in real need in the less developed parts of the world'.[2] It seeks 'to facilitate personal and community dignity through sustainable, 'down to earth' local projects' which:[2]
The charity focuses primarily on developing countries.[2]
Aside from the major, long term projects, the fund has made significant one-off donations to other causes,[3] e.g., Tree Aid (which plants trees in Africa 'to reduce poverty and protect the environment'[4]), Village Water (providing wells and a programme of hygiene education to rural Zambian villages[5]), WhizzKids United (an Africaid-run HIV/AIDS education programme using football to teach lessons about health[6]) and others.
The Christadelphian Meal-a-Day fund was founded in Tamworth, UK, in 1976. The name was inspired by a speech of Henry Kissinger's, in which he said everyone on earth should have at least one meal a day.[1]
In 1999, representatives also started working in Australia to raise awareness and funding for projects in Nepal, Thailand, India, the Autonomous Region of Bougainville and Zambia.[1] A revised, three-region structure was introduced in 2007, with aid for Europe, the Middle East and Africa being managed by the UK committee, aid for Asia-Pacific managed by an Australian committee, and that for North and Latin America and the Caribbean by a committee based in the United States and Canada.[1]
CMaD has a number fundraising channels, including donations from individuals, group donations from church collections, legacies, gift aid,[7] sponsorship,[8] and the sale of various items, such as greeting cards, tea towels and t-shirts.[9] In recent years, in the region of £750,000 per annum has been raised by CMaD UK, around 60% of which is currently used on long term projects that rely largely, or solely, on CMaD funding.