A CAFOD appeal

We are all troubled by what is happening in Ukraine. Our sister Caritas agencies in Ukraine and Caritas agencies in neighbouring countries are already helping people who are affected. Our sister Caritas organisations who are working with those affected have asked for financial assistance. CAFOD is leading and coordinating that appeal in England and Wales on behalf of our sister agencies working in, and on the boarders of Ukraine.

Please go to cafod.org.uk/ukrainecrisis for ways to help. We can accept, process and quickly transfer donations to our partners who can then focus on delivering the much-needed assistance. Our love and support can still make big things happen.  

Family Fast Day collections this Lent are vital because they enable us to reach families around the world, enabling local experts to provide support to people in times of need or conflict. A donation to Lent can help us fight malnutrition and respond quickly to situations around the world such as Ukraine and other areas of conflict around the world. 

This Lent, in our prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we remember the many people who need our love and support all around the world. Children like Lombeh, in the picture attached, who suffered malnutrition in Sierra Leone, or as we are seeing now in Ukraine, families affected by conflict. Lent Fast Day is on 11 March and the parish collections in most churches will happen on 12/13 March. We are incredibly thankful for any support people can give through churches, schools and directly to CAFOD.  

Many people in churches and schools have signed up to walk against hunger each day during Lent. Thankyou! This is a great way to fundraise and show our compassion for our brothers and sisters throughout the world! walk.cafod.org.uk 

Jo Kitterick, CAFOD’s head of fundraising and participation, said:    

“Right now, people across the world are working harder than ever before to provide for their families, but their children are still going hungry. The climate crisis and the pandemic make an existing food crisis even worse for the world’s poorest communities.”  

Thousands of supporters across England and Wales are tying up the laces on their trainers and preparing to walk, run, stroll, jog or skip, 200km over the 40 days of Lent.    

Supporters’ efforts will raise the issue of global hunger in solidarity with others and raise money so that CAFOD can continue vital work with families and communities. This work includes helping communities gain better access to food in the long-term through initiatives such as support for women, training in farming methods resilient to climate change, and savings and loans schemes which can help families and individuals to start small businesses.  

“Each year, more and more people around the world are going hungry despite there being enough food in the world to feed everyone,” said Kitterick. She continued, “according to the UN around 45 per cent of deaths among children under five years of age are linked to not having enough nutritious food because of the way we grow, process, sell and distribute food – it is a broken system that is causing a global food crisis.” 

The story that CAFOD’s local aid experts have shared is of Lombeh, an energetic four-year-old who lives in Upper Bambara County, Kailahun district, in Sierra Leone.  She has recovered from life- threatening malnutrition. Her mother, Amie, did everything she could to keep her child alive, and with support from a community nutrition clinic, run by nuns and supported by CAFOD, Amie received the right food nutrition and information which enabled Lombeh to thrive into the healthy little girl she is today.   

Jo Kitterick, concluded:   

“For 60 years the Catholic community has stood in solidarity with people in poverty; Pope Francis urges us now to tackle the causes, as well as the symptoms, of hunger.  

“We are incredibly lucky to have such committed and compassionate supporters, who in the face of Coronavirus over the last 18 months, have kept us together as a faith community.  

“I know that CAFOD supporters will put all their energy into this year’s Lent fundraiser and will continue to hold close Pope Francis’s powerful call to take care of creation – by challenging those in power to protect the environment, to make changes in our own lifestyles, and to campaign for a fairer global food system.”   

For more information on Walk Against Hunger please visit walk.cafod.org.uk or local representative contact Sylvester on 07919 045658

Walk Against Hunger