It’s never been easier to help the thousands of children displaced by the refugee crisis. With a simple tap on your phone, you could share a meal with a hungry child.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has been struggling to meet the needs of the millions of Syrians fleeing conflict. To ramp up the amount of food they deliver to refugees, the WFP has launched its Share the Meal app. Users can feed a hungry child for an entire day for 50 cents. The WFP receives the funds and provides the meals.
More than 2.7 million meals have been shared so far.
For many Syrian children and their families living in overcrowded refugee camps, this is their fifth year away from home. The initiative focuses on Syrian refugee children living in the Za’atari refugee camp in northern Jordan. The WFP hopes to feed 20,000 Syrian children for a whole year. “The simple act of sharing a meal is how people all over the world come together,” WFP executive director Ertharin Cousin said in a statement.
With 20 times as many smartphone users as there are hungry children, the WFP says the app has an enormous potential to make a difference. The app is free to download for both iOS and Android users.