World Food Day - October 16th
Those of you who know me know that I support the World Food Programme and the issue of world famine in many ways. One way to raise awareness is with bringing your attention to World Food Day which is one day set aside by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. It has been celebrated each year on October 16 since 1945.
The theme for this years conference to raise awareness for world famine is:
As my way of raising awareness for the issue of hunger here in our own communities or worldwide I have created a recipe that can be served in a cup like the Red Cup representative of the School Meals Program. Serving food at school helps alleviate hunger among the world’s poorest children. If even one child is allowed to go to school it provides them with not only food but with an education and the tools which are key to a better future for themselves as well as their own communities. If one child is educated imagine what would happen to an entire village with children in school!!! The future starts with our children!!!
I encourage you to make your voice count by preparing a dish and raising awareness on your own blog. Your dish can be inexpensive, it can be something that represents your part of the world or simply prepare something you enjoy and would like to share. It can be a family favourite or a regional favourite that uses local and perhaps seasonal ingredients. Just serve it in a cup to represent feeding one child a healthy and nutritious lunch at school or enabling a girl to attend school rather than staying at home to help take care of her family.
Post your recipe on your blog with a link back to the World Food Day Day site and one/or all of Fill The Cup campaign or the School Meals Program.
Stay tuned on October 15th for my recipe for Garlic-Leek Soup with Garlic Chips and Chives that is not only an inexpensive dish to make but very versatile with ingredients that can be easily substituted.
The objectives of World Food Day are to heighten our awareness of the problem of hunger in the world and to bring to our attention to what we can do about it personally. It is a day to encourage us and our governments to be well informed on the issues and to have a plan of action!!! World Food Day brings to our attention the plight of 862 million undernourished people around the world ...even in our own backyards!! To find out more about what you can do in your area... visit their World Food Day site.
Our Social Network BloggerAid-Changing the Face of Famine supports the World Food Program and their School Meals Program and is raising funds right now with our cookbook project. (The BloggerAid Cookbook will be available soon after many months of a combined effort by our members). The WFP Fill The Cup Campaign aims to raise funds and awareness for their programs. The red cup is a symbol of hope, representing WFP’s approach to addressing child hunger. School meals often come in the form of porridge, served in a cup. WFP encourages people to “Fill the Cup” by making a donation or volunteering to help raise awareness.
It costs as little as 25 cents to provide a healthy meal to a child in school; $50 will feed a child for the entire year.
On a more personal level one way to help hunger in your community that has my full support is to help your local Food Bank. There are many families that need our help on a daily basis to bring nutritional food into their home. Our local Food Bank in our community of 107,000 people was established in 1983 to provide short-term support to local families and individuals in need of temporary assistance. Annually, they serve more than 30,000 people including nearly 10,000 children, distributing over $2 million in food.
Think about those in your own community this Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend.
