Gateshead Methodist Church get their wellies on to help 'Give Hunger the Boot' in Africa

01 October 2013

Over the last five days, the congregation at Windy Nook Methodist Church in Gateshead have put on a schedule of different events to help raise £260 for ‘Give Hunger the Boot’, a fundraising appeal for the leading UK charity, Farm Africa, which is working to beat hunger across eastern Africa.

To help ‘Give Hunger the Boot’ the congregation linked their church’s annual harvest celebrations to a long weekend of fun and engaging activities. This included a night of welly boot inspired competitions and games organised by the Girls’ Brigade (Thursday 26th), two harvest services themed with welly boot flower arrangements (Sunday 29th) and a concert by the Tyneside Maritime Chorus paired with a pie & peas supper (Monday 30th).

All the money raised will go towards Farm Africa, a charity that supports smallholder African farmers, providing them with training and technology so they are able to grow enough to eat with surpluses left over to sell for much-needed income.

Windy Nook Methodist church often links its harvest project to a food related charity and this year they chose to support Farm Africa. Susan Tilly, Church Council Secretary said:

“The children in the Girls’ Brigade really enjoyed this project in particular as they got to take part in lots of different competitions and activities. It’s important as we celebrate harvest in our church and approach World Food Day, that we recognise the needs of people elsewhere in the world. Through this campaign we can support Africa’s farmers to become self-sufficient, so that they can have enough food not just this harvest, but every harvest.”

To encourage churches to take part, Farm Africa has created free downloadable sermon resources as well as an additional schools pack with educational resources. The resources are designed to help connect those taking part in the campaign with the lives of those in Africa.

The extraordinary support from Windy Nook Methodist Church will generate important funds that Farm Africa will use to train farmers in how to grow and produce more food and increase their harvest yields.

Ends

Images are available on request.

Farm Africa press office:

Laura Oakley, 020 7067 1252 / laurao@farmafrica.org  

Notes to Editor:

About Farm Africa

Farm Africa believes that Africa’s farmers can feed Africa’s people. It provides solutions before hunger becomes an emergency, investing in farmers to give them the tools and skills they need to feed their families.  It also trains farmers’ groups in how to market and sell what they farm so their families see change not just for this harvest but for years to come. 

To help more farmers beat hunger for good please visit www.farmafrica.org

About ‘Give Hunger the Boot’

‘Give Hunger the Boot’ is a campaign run annually around harvest time by Farm Africa. It encourages schools and faith groups to fundraise so that families in Africa can grow enough crops to eat, not just this harvest, but every harvest. It promotes welly boot themed activities including participation in our Great African Welly Walk. http://www.farmafrica.org/give-hunger-the-boot/give-hunger-the-boot.