A GLASGOW charity that provides aid for children in poverty stricken countries has been targeted by vandals.
A GLASGOW charity that provides aid for children in poverty stricken countries has been targeted by vandals.
Mary's Meals is counting the cost of a spate of attacks at their premises in the Balmore Industrial Estate, in the north of the city.
Van windows were smashed and the warehouse daubed in graffiti.
The repair bill is likely to reach £700, which means hundreds of children could have been fed a daily meal from the money the charity will have to pay out.
A window in one van, which was parked outside the building, was broken two weeks ago.
Just as it was repaired, the charity was hit again when windows were smashed on vans that are used for collecting back-packs Scottish pupils donate to those in developing countries.
Then, days later, when staff arrived at work they found graffiti had been sprayed around the outside of the warehouse.
Warehouse manager Sharon Campbell said: "The graffiti was all around the ground floor.
"People come here to find us and to help us, and this is the first thing they will see.
"It has been an expensive and eventful time and we are wondering where it is going to end.
"This is a lot of money to us. Mary's Meals can feed a child in Malawi for a year for £5.30. For what we have to spend on these repairs, we could be providing school dinners for 132 children for 12 months."
Police are investigating the incidents.
Mary's Meals provides daily food in school for more than 330,000 children in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
Its aim is to provide a daily school meal that gives children in some of the poorest countries the nutrition they need to make the most of the day.
The meal is also aimed at attracting them to the classroom and to keep them coming back.
The backpack project appeals to schools to fill packs with basic educational material to send to children receiving Mary's Meals.
Most of the youngsters who benefit from Mary's Meals and the backpacks have suffered because of war, poverty, famine or natural disaster.
