“I have seen with my own eyes what a difference a simple cup of nutritious porridge can make in a child’s life,” said Drew Barrymore. “It helps them learn, stay healthy and sets them on track for a bright future. I urge everyone -- everywhere -- to help WFP ‘Fill the Cup’ for hungry children, and make hunger history.”--Drew Barrymore, WFP Ambassador Against Hunger
The Red Cup is a symbol that simultaneously defines the challenges facing the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and the struggle for survival that is a daily concern for those living on the edge.
Just 25 cents will fill a cup with porridge, rice or beans and give girls a monthly ration to take home.
About $1.50 – the price of a cup of coffee – is enough to feed a child through school for one week.
Why a red cup? Plastic cups are widely used by the World Food Program for school meals of porridge or other food. Soon after she started with WFP, Executive Director Josette Sheeran was given a red cup with the name ‘Lily’ scratched on the bottom (discarded by Lily when she received her new cup). Seeing that the red cup was a powerful visual tool to help show the world how little food it takes to make a huge difference to a child’s life, Sheeran never travels without it. |
- Seeks to use the power of this image to engage as many people as possible in the mission to end global hunger and raise awareness of what WFP is doing to alleviate it.
- Urges those in the international community to think; next time they fill their own cup with coffee, soup – or any refreshment that they take for granted – they may consider it could mean a whole week of meals for one child.
The March 3rd broadcast of the The Oprah Winfrey Show featured WFP Ambassador Against Hunger, Drew Barrymore, who shared her experiences working with WFP. During the show a challenge was issued to help raise much needed funds for WFP programs that provide school meals to hungry children in Africa. Learn more about Drew's work and fill the cup.
Did you know?
- About 59 million primary school age children attend school hungry across the developing world, 23 million of them are in 45 African countries. It is more difficult for children without adequate food to learn, which means they lack the same opportunity for personal development as those who are nourished – resulting in poverty for their family, community and country.
- WFP school meals are a major incentive for poor families to send their children – particularly girls – to school. As a result, school enrolment and attendance rates are much higher in schools where meals are provided.
- WFP now provides meals to an average 20 million children in school, about half of whom are girls, in some 70 countries.
- Over the past 40 years, 28 countries have developed to the point where they can take over their own programs or pay WFP to do it, as do the governments of
- WFP estimates that $3 billion is needed per year to reach all 59 million children.
- About $1.2 billion will allow us to reach 23 million children in
- WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency: this year, WFP plans to feed some 70 million people in around 80 of the world’s poorest countries.
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