News Release

15th December 2011

COMMUNITY PULLS TOGETHER AT CHRISTMAS

Thanks to local people, businesses and organisations, a flurry of containers, full of life saving aid worth £870,000, have been shipped out from Feed The Children (UK)’s Twyford warehouse to arrive over Christmas.

On Boxing Day a 40 foot container is due to arrive in Monrovia, Liberia.  Shipped two weeks ago the contents include two new generators, one of which weighs 2 tonnes and required the loan of an additional forklift truck from Linde Material Handling UK, in Basingstoke, in order to lift that weight. The generators have been sourced for a teaching hospital in Monrovia. Other items including water purification kits that have been donated by the Rotary Club of Wirksworth, dried and tinned food from Feed The Children’s Harvest Appeal, baby meals, educational items, soap and other hygiene items and new sports clothes.

A 40 foot container containing dried food and blankets has just arrived in Somaliland as has a 20 foot container of food, water purification kits, hygiene and educational items in Guatemala. Communities in real need will receive the goods by Christmas.

Another 20 foot container full of food and hygiene items, went out last week, bound for Iraqi refugees that have arrived in Jordan. It too will arrive before Christmas.

Says Feed The Children (UK)’s Warehouse and Despatch Manager, Dave Paddick, “We have recently sent goods off to Pakistan and it is so rewarding to be able to ship out another four large containers before Christmas to other world wide destinations. We were certainly challenged when loading the generators for Liberia, so we were particularly grateful that Linde in Basingstoke came to our rescue.  The generators only just fitted into the containers and we held our breaths at as they were squeezed in!”

“We can source the goods,” explains the charity’s chief executive officer, Brain Main. “It is always the money to pay for the shipments that we find challenging, so our thanks go to all the local people and organisations that support us.

So if anyone would like to help us with sending aid please ring 0118 9320095 or visit www.feedthechildren.org.uk to donate. Or text FEED30 £2/£5/£10 to 70070 e.g. FEED30£5.

“It costs around £7,000 to ship a container, money well spent when you consider it can contain up to £300,000 of donated aid.”