THERE are so many fantastic charitable organisations working day in, day out to improve the world we live in, I am almost reluctant to single one out with praise.

However, last week Mary's Meals reached an incredible goal - they are now feeding over 1 million children in schools across the world every day.

1 million meals, 1 million children - double the number that were benefitting from their school meals programmes in countries from Malawi to Ecuador to India just four years ago.

Mary's Meals, who have offices in Glasgow, have been able to hugely expand the scope of the scheme in recent years primarily because of the generosity of donors and the passion of the team behind the charity.

This generosity and passion has been inspired by the vision and principle of Mary's Meals Scottish founders. The simplicity of their idea is what attracts so many people to support Mary's Meals.

It all started in Malawi, a country which has historical and powerful connection to Scotland for centuries. Malawi is also one of the poorest countries in the world.

Mary's Meals founder - Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow - often attributes his vision and drive to start the school feeding programme to a boy he met in Malawi, who told him that if he could have anything in the world, it would be enough food to eat and to be able to go to school.

Mary's Meals now feeds children in over a quarter of primary schools in Malawi.

This really summarises the principle behind Mary's Meals and those who contribute to the charity - that no child should have to go hungry, and that every child should be entitled to an education, regardless of where they live.

By providing a nutritious meal to children in schools they are helping to relieve some of the burden on parents who may be ill or struggling to feed themselves.

It also prevents children from having to go out and work from frighteningly young ages, meaning they are unable to get the most basic levels of formal education.

I hope that one day their work will not be required but until that day comes Mary's Meals should have all of our collective support.

Finally I was also pleased to hear last week about BAE's decision to invest over £100 million in their Govan and Scotstoun sites.

As a Glasgow MSP I've spent a lot of time working in the Govan area and I know how important the Govan Fairfield yard is to the local community, both in terms of its historical significance and the skilled jobs it provides today.

With the skills and expertise available in Glasgow it would have been a huge disappointment to see the work at this site being scaled back.

This additional investment in BAE is not a coincidence but due to the graft, hard work and skill of those who work in Govan and Scotstoun.