Efforts by Bermudian volunteers to raise funds for a feeding programme in Haiti have paid off.

More than 700 schoolchildren are now being fed three lunches a week at the school run by Feed My Lambs Ministry at a cost of $3,300 a month.

“We actually started up the academy feeding programme and you had to hear the reaction of the children when the headteacher announced that they were going to start to get three lunches a week that day,” said Marianne Herbert, who runs the fundraising campaign in Bermuda for the programme.

“The smiles and the cheers — it was unbelievable. A lot of them might eat only once a day.”

“It’s basically rice with pinto beans, grated coconut, maybe coconut oil,” she said. “It’s actually very tasty.”

She added that they hope to include vegetables from a farm, which was set up by the charity last year, once they are available.

Feed My Lambs Ministry has been working in Montrouis, Haiti, since 2008.

The Bermudian charity has built an orphanage for 60 children, a school for more than 700 students and a medical clinic. A solar water purification system was also constructed and a school kitchen was built over the summer holidays for the feeding programme. And while the programme still needs fine-tuning, Ms Herbert said it costs about $3,300 per month to run.

Ms Herbert sold Feed My Lambs Ministry calendars with other volunteers to cover some of the costs and hopes the proceeds will keep the programme going for five to six months.

“I’m trying to encourage people to do coin collections,” Ms Herbert said.

“It’s just amazing how loose change adds up and people don’t miss it. If enough people did that, we could finance it entirely from coins.”

Feed My Lambs Ministry also teamed up with another group of volunteers last year to start the farm project.

John Singleton, who has worked with the charity for a number of years, spearheaded the project with the assistance of local farmer Tom Wadson.

Together they led a fundraising campaign that included a special dinner at Wadson’s Farm to help with construction costs and the purchasing of supplies.

Mr Wadson and Mr Singleton were part of a group of volunteers that travelled to Montrouis in October last year.

“We were charging along,” Mr Wadson told The Royal Gazette. “We set up a first-class irrigation system and also set up 50 ready-to-lay hens.”

The team planted vegetables, constructed a fence and also built a chicken coop that can be moved around the field to provide manure.

Mr Wadson said: “It’s got all the potential to do wonderful things.”

But Mr Wadson said there is always more work to be done.

“It’s complicated to make it all work,” he said. “We’re lacking a little bit in skill and experience down there.”

Mr Wadson said it is important to teach the volunteers and locals how to farm and maintain the equipment.

Mr Singleton added: “It’s only been a few months now: we are hoping that by the end of the year we will be able to master the farming and expand the programme even further.”

“There’s a sense of hope there now,” he said, adding that Feed My Lambs Ministry does a “wonderful job in a very poor area”.

Mr Wadson, who has now been to Haiti twice, hopes to find the time to head back soon.

“I wish I could be down there all the time,” he said. “It’s tough to run a farm from miles away.”

For more information visit www.feedmylambsministry.org