For many people, the idea of volunteering sits quietly in the background of good intentions, something to return to when life slows down or when there is more time to give.
For Alessandra Cavaliere, a third year university student juggling lectures, assignments and a part time job, volunteering once felt like a luxury she simply could not afford.
That changed in spring 2025, when a simple message from her mother pointed her towards Mary’s Meals, a charity introduced to her during Mass and one that would soon reshape how Alessandra understood time, purpose and service.
Mary’s Meals, founded in the Scottish Highlands in 2002, works on a simple but powerful idea, that a daily meal in a place of education can change a child’s life by drawing them into school and giving them the nourishment they need to learn.
Curious and quietly moved, Alessandra bought a copy of Give by the charity’s founder Magnus MacFarlane Barrow, and in its pages found something she had not been looking for but somehow recognised immediately.
She describes it as a calling, not dramatic or loud, but steady and insistent, inviting her to offer what time she could rather than waiting for perfect circumstances that never come.
In May 2025, Alessandra became a volunteer, and with that small yes, her understanding of volunteering began to shift in ways she did not expect.
She knows how hard it can feel to give time, particularly for students who already feel stretched thin, because she stood in exactly that place herself.
What surprised her was the realisation that the time she offered was not lost time at all, but time transformed into meals for children who would otherwise go hungry.
Church talks, she explains, are not just talks, they are meals placed into small bowls, and fundraising is not just counting coins but quietly holding up the dreams of children far away.
Volunteering, she discovered, is not only about giving back, but about receiving something profound in return, a sense of purpose, connection and meaning that no timetable can capture.
As a student, Alessandra knows the weight of sleepless nights, long assignments and early mornings, yet she has found that even a small act of service can rebalance a life that feels overwhelmed.
Looking at photographs of children smiling over a simple meal, knowing you played a small part in that moment, is a feeling she says is difficult to put into words.
It is not guilt that motivates her, but gratitude, an awareness that opportunities she once took for granted remain out of reach for millions of children across the world.
Volunteering, she believes, offers everything people often say they are searching for, purpose, community, practical skills and the quiet satisfaction of contributing to something bigger than yourself.
Her message to other students and busy lives is not one of pressure, but possibility, that if we can find even a little time to give, our lives can change alongside the lives we help to shape.
Mary’s Meals continues to feed children every school day in some of the world’s poorest communities, powered by volunteers like Alessandra who simply decided to begin.
Sometimes the smallest yes becomes the most important step we ever take.
