Help fight the Global Food Crisis

Join Compassion in a day of fasting and prayer on June 25th. Click here for details. Read on for more info on the Global Food Crisis.

WHAT IS THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS?

The World Food Programme calls the global food crisis a phenomenon, a “silent tsunami,” that is affecting families in every nation on every continent. Food prices for popular menu items like rice, wheat and beans have doubled in the last year. Though increases in food prices have hit all budgets, it’s the poor who bear the brunt of price inflation. The higher prices are forcing people who survive on just $1 a day to spend upwards of 80 percent of their budgets just on food.  As a result, many people, including millions of children, are going hungry. The longer food prices rise, the more people will be plunged into hunger and poverty.

WHAT IS CAUSING THE CRISIS?

Since 2005, food prices have risen a whopping 80 percent because of…
• rising fuel costs
• rising food demand from populous nations like India and China
• natural disasters destroying crop yields all over the world, including the United States
• growth of biofuels

The global food crisis is forcing poor families to spend more of their household budgets on food, leaving little for anything else. In Bangladesh 95% of the 11,782 children Compassion serves there are affected. Many children are eating only at the church-based center (also known as a Compassion project). In Haiti, inflation rates have risen 40%, pushing up food prices. All 60,000 children served by Compassion in Haiti have been affected by the food crisis there.

Experts predict the combination of a weakening dollar, soaring oil prices, and reduction in food production will not dissipate. They are predicting this long-term crisis will tighten its grip on poor countries, causing more children and families to suffer.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Here’s some links for you to check out that will give you a better idea of how you can help with the Global Food Crisis.

• FOOD CRISIS INFORMATION PAGE: http://www.compassion.com/sponsordonor/global-food-crisis/default.htm
• CRIS FUND DONATION PAGE: https://www.compassion.com/contribution/giving/global-food-crisis.htm
• DAY OF PRAYER AND FASTING WIDGET: http://www.springwidgets.com/widgets/view/42681
• POST ABOUT THE FOOD CRISIS ON COMPASSION’S BLOG: http://blog.compassion.com/tag/global-food-crisis/