A COVENTRY charity fighting against international hunger has made an urgent appeal for people to get behind a new Christmas campaign to help meet a record increase in demand.
Feed The Hungry is appealing for people to become ‘Life Givers,’ in a bid to extend the season of goodwill throughout the year.
The Christian humanitarian organisation helps more than 485,000 children with meals, working with partners in 25 countries around the world to fight hunger due to poverty, war, famine and natural disasters.
This is mainly achieved through feeding programs and encouraging sustainability and Community Farming projects as well as holding packing events at the Halo Centre warehouse in Binley.
Feed The Hungry’s CEO, Gwyn Williams has overseen the charity’s relief operations in areas including South Africa, Somaliland, Romania, Burkina Faso and Ukraine in the past year.
He said: “It has been one of the hardest lead-ins to Christmas we have had both at home and abroad.
“Yet we are determined to walk alongside people’s pain and put them on the road to recovery, and we are thankful for people’s generosity in drawing from deep wells of resources to help others at their point of crisis.
“Christmas is known as a season of giving and we are so grateful for the inpouring of acts of love and kindness at this time of year, which help us deliver this essential aid.
“But, this year more than ever, we need to maintain that level of spirit of goodwill beyond the Christmas period.”
The campaign calls on people to give £5 to help feed a child with hot nutritious meals for a month through school-based programmes.
Gwyn added: “This year I walked in places of devastation, without which I would not have been able to conceptualise the destruction at such an unimaginable scale.
“Yet in those places, I have seen hope flower as people receive the unexpected parcels, that speak to them that they are not forgotten.
“Only last month we spoke with a young lady who attends one of our local community pantries, having been isolated because of abuse, and struggled to look after her children, blossom and started volunteering to help others, growing in confidence as a person and as a mother.”
Visit https://fth.org.uk/life/ for more information or to donate.
