Momentum gathers for 40-Hour Famine – how you can help

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By Sarah Binnie
40-Hour Famine Committee Lead

On Thursday 3 June, we had our first event leading up to this year’s 40-Hour Famine – a visit by World Vision Youth Ambassador Alyssa Wilson (who is also an ex-Westlake student).

We had a really good turnout of 80 or more students from all different year levels. The committee members and I decided to organise this event to make students are aware of why we do the 40-Hour Famine and to learn more about how the students personally can help to solve the biggest hunger crisis of our lifetime.

The students loved hearing from Alyssa. A crucial part of our event was making the students aware of how powerful donating even just $1 can be. The way we conveyed this was I told the students about a story I listened to on a scholarship summit that I attended. The story was about a man named Vitalis who grew up in Kenya. He lived without electricity and the money that his family did have was used on the farm. Uniforms were not introduced to his school until Years 11 and 12, and then many of the students dropped out because they could not afford it. Vitalis luckily got a school uniform for less than $1 through World Vision and it was the first time he had ever put on socks and shoes in his life. The uniform enabled him to go to school, get an education, and therefore a job to earn more money to help out his family and community. This shows that every little bit counts.

Every $1 that we might take for granted actually can determine whether a child can obtain an education. By donating $6, you can provide fast-growing seeds to a family. These seeds help to grow healthy foods to eat and sell and means that a family will be able to make more money to send their children to school and hospital.

We also have one more event before the official 40-Hour Famine weekend from 25-27 June, which we are excited to promote in the form classes and assemblies. Our main goal through these events is to spread awareness of the positive impact students and parents can have through taking part in the 40-hour famine this year. Because if not us then who? If not now then when?

If you would like to support our students who are undertaking the 40-Hour-Famine this year, you can donate using this link below. Thank you for helping our school make a global difference.

https://my.worldvision.org.nz/ss/7g4TXR/westlake-girls-high-school

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