World Hunger Day - We're Hungry Too

May 28, 2019 authise authise

Sylvia Green chats about her book We’re Hungry Too, World Hunger Day and what you and your family can do to help through a fun activity.

May is Share a Story Month and May 28^th is World Hunger Day. My children’s picture book We’re Hungry Too is a story about a little girl called Ellie who, while out with her aunt, is finding out about other people and different types of animals and insects that are hungry but often overlooked.

Is there anything she can do to help them? Is it possible for children to help hungry people and other creatures?

There are 800 million people in the world who don’t have enough to eat. That’s a frightening statistic – is it too large for a child to contemplate? In my story Ellie gives some pocket money to a lady collecting for hungry children. It might not be much but every little helps. If everyone gave just a little (what they can afford) then it would make a big difference. Another frightening fact is that there are many people in our own local areas that don’t have enough to eat. Many children arrive at school hungry. Sadly, more and more people are having to rely on food banks. Perhaps, while out shopping at the supermarket, children could be allowed to choose one or two extra items to pop into a collecting box for the local Food Bank.

Maybe children could fundraise for people who are hungry. Sponsorship is always popular – a run, a bike ride or a swim event. Sponsored silences are always popular with adults! The money raised could be sent to an organisation such as Christian Aid to help people in poor countries.

There are many animals, birds and insects that are hungry too. A lot of children would enjoy creating a wildlife garden or window box with plants that are important for insects such as bees, caterpillars and butterflies. These fascinating and important insects are in serious decline now and need our help. Feeding the birds is another activity that children could be encouraged to do. Wild bird food can be purchased from many places but you can also put out scraps such as grated cheese, unsalted bacon rind, cooked rice, dry cereal and small amounts of crumbled up bread.

A fun thing for children to do is to help make fat balls for hungry birds. You will need:

Leftover kitchen scraps such as bread, cake, biscuits, pastry, bacon rinds, ham etc.

A block of solid fat such as lard or margarine (the soft varieties will not set firm enough).

Containers such as margarine tubs to set your cakes in.

Mix together all the scraps and weigh them.

The amount of fat you will need is half the weight of the scraps.

Melt the fat in a large saucepan and stir in the scraps.

Place the mixture in the containers and leave to set hard.

Once your cakes are set you can either put them on your bird table as they are or you could make a hole through them and hang them up.

In my story, Ellie helps out with some hungry cats. They are taken to an animal shelter where they will be fed and well cared for. Animal shelters and wildlife rescue centres sometimes need donations of tinned or dried food. You could find out about any that are local to you.

World hunger is not going to go away overnight but if we could all do just one thing to help it would make a difference. And yes, children can help too! You are never too young to care.

Sylvia Green’s delightful and heart-warming picture book, We’re Hungry Too, helps adults and children alike to think about caring for creation, while sharing what we have with others. Aimed at 3-5 year olds, We’re All Hungry Too makes an inspiring read for the whole family with beautiful illustrations by David Lorenzo.

Check out Sylvia's other blog posts below and her Assembly program!