FUNDRAISERS at a Barrhead charity shop are inviting residents to pay a visit and make a wish for Christmas.

Visitors to the Mary’s Meals store, in the town’s Main Street, can get a specially-designed decoration in return for a small donation to the charity, which feeds more than 1.5 million hungry children every school day.

People can write their Christmas wish on the decoration – or a wish for a loved one – and display it in the shop or take it home for their own tree.

Margaret Grieg, who manages the Mary’s Meals shop, said: “I am very grateful for everything the people of Barrhead do throughout the year to support Mary’s Meals. Together, we are providing life-changing meals for children in some of the world’s poorest countries.

“I hope local residents will celebrate the festive season with us by visiting the shop and making a Christmas wish.”

Each Christmas tree decoration features the shed in Argyll where Mary’s Meals was founded in 2002.

The charity now feeds hungry children living in 18 countries around the world, including Malawi, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia, Haiti, India, Lebanon, Syria, Thailand, Romania, Ecuador and Madagascar.

The food attracts them into the classroom, where they receive an education that can, in the future, be their ladder out of poverty.

Research shows that, in schools where children receive Mary’s Meals, enrolment increases, drop-out rates fall, concentration in lessons is heightened and parents are less anxious.

The average global cost to feed a child with Mary’s Meals for an entire school year is £13.90.

For more information on ways to support Mary’s Meals this festive season, visit marysmeals.org.uk/Christmas.