On February 26-27, hundreds of thousands of American teens will go hungry in an effort to help Haiti quake survivors and fight global hunger through World Vision's 30-Hour Famine. This year, a portion of funds raised by 30-Hour Famine groups will go toward Haiti's long-term recovery.
Now, by participating in World Vision's 30-Hour Famine, hundreds of thousands of American teens will also put a human face on the untold suffering of the Global Food Crisis. And youth will be helping those hardest-hit by the recession here at home as they participate in community service projects (at food banks, soup kitchens and homeless shelters).
Where does 30-Hour Famine money go? Haiti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Sudan, Mauritania, Pakistan, Zambia, Zimbabwe and other targeted spots where famine, conflict and other crises make children vulnerable.
World Vision has been working in Haiti for more than thirty years. This year, in addition to addressing immediate relief needs, 30-Hour Famine funds will be spent on long-term needs in Haiti such as food rations to children and mothers and HIV-positive adults, fruit trees, small-scale drip irrigation, guinea fowl and pigs, construction of eight new clinics (serving 55,000) and a new pharmacy, immunizations and more.
Tonight, nearly one billion people worldwide will go to bed hungry - that's one out of every six people on earth. 26,000 children die each day from preventable causes like hunger, disease and malnutrition. Chronic poverty, affecting half the people on earth, is the cause. Nearly 3 billion people live on less than $2 a day.
Hundreds of thousands of American teens will participate in World Vision's 19h annual 30-Hour Famine, forsaking food for 30 hours to get a taste of what the world's poorest children face. Prior to the event, teens raise funds by explaining that $30 a month - just $1 a day - can feed and care for a child for 30 days. As they fast, teens consume only water and juice as they participated in local community service projects.
Since 1992, students have raised more than $130 million worldwide. In 2009, 30-Hour Famine raised close to $11 million. This year's goal is to raise $12 million. World Vision works in nearly 100 countries, helping approximately 100 million people.
Visit www.30hourfamine.org or call 800-7-FAMINE for more information.
