Farmers Helping Farmers asks supporters to dig deep this holiday season as Kenyan farm families struggle with drought
Drought and the ongoing impacts of climate change are making daily life a challenge in 2022 for the women’s groups, farmers, dairies and schools that are the partners of Farmers Helping Farmers, making this year’s holiday campaign more critical than ever.
People in the areas where FHF works are hungry, as the region experiences the worst drought in decades. Children are too hungry to learn, and in many cases, mothers are limiting themselves to one meal a day.
Many of the gifts in the 2022 Holiday Campaign will help the women FHF works with to produce food to feed their families, or will help to provide food for a mid-day meal for school children.
Last year, supporters of Farmers Helping Farmers helped to raise almost $100,000 during the 2021 Holiday Campaign, with 100 percent of the donations going directly to families in Kenya.
This year, the P.E.I.-based volunteer group is asking donors to dig even deeper, if they can, to help get food and water to Kenyan families who are struggling.
The gifts range in price, including:
$20 for a bag to grow vegetables for a farm family, $30 for seeds for a garden, $60 for a solar light for children to study at night, $250 for a fuel-saving stove with chimney to cook a family’s food, $650 for a rainwater storage tank for a family’s clean water, or $1,200 to establish and support a vegetable garden for a school.
There is also the option of a general donation, which is also useful because it can be directed to areas of the greatest need.
A new poultry program offered by Farmers Helping Farmers is getting fresh eggs to Kenyan families. A donation of $85 provides five chickens.
Another meaningful donation is milk for 10 school children for three months, for $150. For some children, the porridge and stew that they have at school will be their only meals of the day.
All of the gift items will make a significant difference. Every donation matters.
“Our work with women’s groups, dairies and schools has perhaps never been more important than it is now,” says FHF president Judy Loo. “It is heartbreaking to see the drought undermining the progress that people have made, and we know that much more needs to be done.”
There are many ways to donate to the Farmers Helping Farmers Holiday Campaign. You can visit our FHF website and click on the DONATE button. There is also a flyer available in the November and December editions of The Buzz if you prefer to mail us your donation.
Tax receipts are available, as are gift cards that can be shared with family, friends or clients.
Donors will receive a gift card in time for Christmas for donations received by December 15, 2022.
One hundred per cent of these gifts will go directly to Kenya.
“Farmers Helping Farmers cannot change the weather, or address the most serious impacts of the changing climate, but all the support that we have been providing over the years continue to help women and families cope with the extreme drought in Kenya,” Loo said..
“With the help of our staff on the ground in Meru County, we continue to monitor the situation and provide direct assistance to those who are hardest hit, where possible.”
Volunteers with Farmers Helping Farmers from P.E.I. will be returning to Kenya in November, for the first time since March 2020. There will be a small delegation in November, and a larger working group of volunteers in January 2023.
