World Food Programme Calls For Citizen Action To Feed The One Billion Hungry

Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Also Included In: Aid / Disasters
Article Date: 19 Nov 2009 - 2:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

At a time when funds to feed the hungry are hard to come by, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today urged ordinary people to put food on the table of the world's hungry by supporting the "Billion for a Billion" online campaign.

"The challenge of feeding a billion people may seem huge, but now you can fill the cup of a hungry child with a simple click of a mouse," said Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of WFP. "If a billion internet users donate a dollar, or a Euro a week, we can literally transform the lives of a billion hungry people across the world."

WFP is highlighting the "Billion for a Billion" campaign on the eve of a World Food Summit, hosted by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization at its headquarters in Rome, where world leaders are - once again - being asked to find solutions to the growing number of hungry people in the world.

"Year in, year out, governments have supported WFP in its mission to feed the world's hungriest people, but they cannot be expected to do it alone," Sheeran added. "I'm saying it's time for members of the public to act now and support our campaign to end the suffering caused by hunger."

The "Billion for a Billion" campaign (http://www.wfp.org/1billion) is designed to make a link between the "on-line haves" and the "have nots," demonstrating how small actions or donations can make a huge difference to the lives of the hungry poor.

"Citizen action has abolished slavery, given women the right to vote, and helped to ban the use of landmines across much of our planet," said WFP Executive Director, Josette Sheeran. "In the month when we are marking the role of ordinary people in bringing about the fall of the Berlin wall, why shouldn't we draw on that inspiration and try to harness the power of individual action to feed the world's hungriest people?"

Source
World Food Programme

• Additional
• References
• Citations