News release from Save The Children:
“Give us your lunch money!” That is what Fairfield-based Save the Children is asking of its supporters and the general public. On Monday, May 1, the global humanitarian organization is kicking off a week-long campaign aimed at raising awareness of the severe hunger crisis currently crippling East Africa. People are giving up their lunch–or going #Lunchless–for one day and donating their lunch money to Save the Children instead.
To participate in the #Lunchless campaign, people are asked to take four easy steps:
1. Skip lunch for one day.
2. Post a photo of yourself going #Lunchless on social media.
3. Text LUNCHLESS to 20222 to donate $10*.
4. Help spread the word about #Lunchless: Share, Retweet, Regram, Tag your friends and followers. Encourage them to go #Lunchless as well.All funds raised will be matched up to $150,000 and go to Save the Children’s Child Hunger and Famine Relief Fund which helps to provide food, clean drinking water, lifesaving medical care and so much more to children and families affected by the hunger crisis.
Conflict and the worst drought in decades has left nearly 20 million children and families in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda in urgent need of food and water, with kids being among the most vulnerable. That is more than the populations of Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City and Philadelphia combined, and more than five-and-a-half times the population of Connecticut.
Leading the way locally on the campaign will be State Representative Christopher Rosario (Bridgeport), who has confirmed he will go #Lunchless for one day this week.
“As an elected official, I use the power of social media every day to help me reach my constituents in Bridgeport and throughout Connecticut,” said State Rep. Rosario. “This week, I’m proud to use my Twitter and Instagram accounts to help the millions of kids in Africa who are in desperate need of our help. Thanks to Save the Children, located right here in our great state, for their efforts in bringing awareness to this issue. I encourage everyone who can go #Lunchless with me to do so, and help spread the word on social media.”
In addition to State Rep. Rosario, many of the 300 Fairfield-based employees at Save the Children will also participate in the #Lunchless campaign this week.
“The humanitarian situation is growing worse by the day–and if we don’t act now, many children are at risk of dying,” said Carolyn Miles, Save the Children’s president & CEO. For children to starve or die of thirst in this day and age is frankly outrageous. For much of Somalia, it barely rained there last month. People are traveling hundreds of miles to get water and still can’t find it.”
It is rare that so many countries are affected by drought and conflict this severe simultaneously. Crops have failed, and in Somalia alone, three-quarters of the country’s livestock has died. As a result, food prices in the region have skyrocketed leaving families no longer able to afford it.
Added Miles, “Hunger has a ripple effect. Chronic and severe malnutrition not only impact the children and families suffering directly; they also impact entire communities and countries. The breadth of the crisis is unparalleled by anything we’ve seen before, with nearly 20 million people at risk across the region. But going #Lunchless is one simple act we can all do.”
To learn more about what Save the Children humanitarian response in East Africa, visit www.savethechildren.org/lunchless.
There is hunger and homelessness right here in our own backyard…in The City Of Bridgeport, What is Saving The Children doing within the community that it itself inhabits. I would really like to talk to someone from Save The Children and let’s talk about helping the hungry and homeless in the Bridgeport Area.