East Antrim residents raise £20,000 for Concern Worldwide

Concern Worldwide has thanked the people of Larne, Carrick and Newtownabbey for donating £20,000 to its Hunger Stops Here appeal.
Monica Malundu,, a small model farmer in Concern's RAIN programme, holds her 3 year old daughter Deli outside their home in Zambia. INNT-17-707-conMonica Malundu,, a small model farmer in Concern's RAIN programme, holds her 3 year old daughter Deli outside their home in Zambia. INNT-17-707-con
Monica Malundu,, a small model farmer in Concern's RAIN programme, holds her 3 year old daughter Deli outside their home in Zambia. INNT-17-707-con

The Larne public donated £2,000 to the appeal, while Carrick residents donated £5,000 and Newtownabbey residents donated £13,000.

The money will go to programmes tackling malnutrition in some of the world’s most marginalised communities helping thousands of vulnerable people to escape the trap of hunger.

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“We are very grateful that the people of Larne, Carrick and Newtownabbey have shown their generosity by backing the appeal,” said Peter Anderson, NI Director of Concern.

“The public have been motivated to do all sorts of things to raise money, such as organising street collections, bake sales and quizzes, fasting for 24 hours, donating items to our shops and taking on a challenge.

“The matched funds will have a huge impact for thousands of mothers and their children in rural Zambia, helping to free them from a life-sentence of hunger through nutrition and health training together with agricultural support.”

The RAIN project, which recently won a major international award, has been addressing the nutritional crisis in the area for the past three years. Working with Zambia’s health and agriculture ministries, it gives women the seeds, tools and know-how they need to create small vegetable gardens to provide a more varied and nutritious diet for their families. This is combined with health and nutrition support for both mother and child. So far, there are 180 homestead gardens in the area with 4,500 people benefitting from the scheme.

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Local health professionals are already reporting a vast reduction in the number of cases of childhood undernutrition since it began.

Antrim and Ballymena Times journalist Lorna McKay visited Zambia to report on Concern’s work and how the project that will benefit from matched funds.

She travelled to one of the poorest regions, where more than half of all children suffer from chronic malnutrition.

The successful project will now be used as a model to be rolled out to other areas in Zambia and even further afield.

For more info visit www.concern.net

Antrim and Ballymena Times reporter Lorna McKay with UTV’s Tommy Hassan and Judith Hill and Executive Director of Concern UK Rose Caldwell in Zambia. INNT-16-706-con