Improving Nutrition
Unilever Caribbean joins hundreds of thousands in the global fight against child hunger.
In June 2009, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in cities around the world to show their support for the work of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in the fight against global hunger. The annual ‘End Hunger: Walk the World’ initiative mobilised an estimated 300,000 people in 2009 to raise awareness and funds for WFP’s school feeding programmes. At least 200 walks took place in 70 countries across all 24 time zones.
In Trinidad, over 2,500 people gathered in Rio Claro for the 5 kilometer walk, which is now in its 4th year in the community. The Walk kicked off at 8.30 am and was attended by Member of Parliament for Mayaro, Winston ‘Gypsy’ Peters, Economist Dr. Dhanayshar Mahabir, Managing Director of Unilever Caribbean Limited (the major corporate partner of the walk), Roxane De Freitas and other leading businessmen and women from the community. Over 100 employees of Unilever, together with their families, participated in the walk. Unilever Caribbean contributed TT$22,000 (US$3,500) towards the World Food Programme School Feeding Fund. The contribution comprised employee cash donations as well as an official company donation.
Now in its seventh year, the Walk the World event is sponsored by three of WFP’s global private sector partners: global mail company TNT, consumer goods company Unilever, and nutrition and life-science specialists DSM.
“Today we walked 5 km, symbolizing the 5 km that hundreds of thousands of poor children walk every day to get to school on an empty stomach. Many of us are privileged to have never experienced that. But to whom much is given, much is expected and it is our responsibility to do our part to give these children the chance for a good start in life,” said Roxane De Freitas, Unilever Caribbean Limited Managing Director, speaking at the event. “Together we can all make a difference in the lives of these children and help them to have a good start in life,” she added.
The worldwide series of walks kicked off in Australia with a climb up Sydney Harbour Bridge. In the Philippines, monsoon rains gave way to a bright sunny day for 6,000 people to walk together in the streets of Manila, while in Indonesia an early-morning walk followed by a concert attracted 12,000 supporters.
Hundreds of supporters also joined a virtual online walk,where donations were counted as miles walked with the objective of ‘walking’ 25,000 miles around the world.
