When Hollywood actor Gerard Butler struck a friendship with Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow after presenting him with a CNN Heroes award back in 2010, creating a documentary together wasn’t on the radar for either of them.
MacFarlane-Barrow, founder and CEO of Mary’s Meals, a charity that each day feeds more than 1.6 million school children living in poverty across the world, says true to the essence of the organization’s origins, the connection with Butler and the making of their new documentary, Love Reaches Everywhere, was an act of divine providence.
“I was still accepting the award and walking backstage with him when he started saying, ‘This is really funny because my mother in Scotland’s been talking to me for years about Mary’s Meals and about you and saying that I should meet you and help you,’ ” said MacFarlane-Barrow, who like the actor hails from Scotland. “He joked, ‘I need to get a selfie with you to send my mom.’ ”