Even £5 means we can treat a few more children – £5 means a few more children who we won’t have to turn away because we’ve run out of medicine.
New York City, New York (PRWEB) December 07, 2013
The World Medical Fund for Children (WMF) is pleased to be one of the 387 charities – out of thousands of applicants – chosen to participate in the Big Give Christmas Challenge.
This Christmas season, the public have the opportunity to give a gift that will save lives. By donating to the WMF during the Big Give Christmas Challenge, their money will go twice as far.
The Big Give Christmas Challenge is an idea developed by the Reed Foundation, a philanthropic trust that supports charities by matching funds raised through the Christmas Challenge online fundraising event.
WMF hopes to raise £20,000 online during this year’s Challenge, which will be doubled through matched funds to reach the target of £40,000.
The internationally-focused charity with both US and UK offices runs mobile medical clinics and provides treatment such as anti-retroviral medication to impoverished children in rural Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Reaching the target amount of £40,000 would allow the WMF to provide medical care to 30,000 of Africa’s poorest children in 2014.
WMF International Programme Co-ordinator, Nazlie Chan-Wing-Yen, said that every donation makes a difference.
“People might see that we’re aiming to raise £20,000 and doubt that their £5 would help, but no donation is too small,” she said.
“Even £5 means we can treat a few more children – £5 means a few more children who we won’t have to turn away because we’ve run out of medicine.”
Ms Chan-Wing-Yen said that a sick child had a significant impact on the whole family.
“A sick child means the mother can’t work in the field, for example,” she said.
“As the people we work with are subsistence farmers, fewer people to work on the farm means less food on the table, which can cause malnutrition – so it’s a vicious circle.”
The Big Give Christmas Challenge kicked off on December 5 at 10am (GMT); however, the last round of matched funding will be released at 10am on the morning of December 7.
It is important for donors to get in quickly and donate as close as they can to 10am - each day brings only a limited amount of matched funds, which are allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis. On the first day of last year’s Christmas Challenge, the matched funding pot was exhausted by 10:20am!
You can donate via the World Medical Fund project page on the Big Give Christmas Challenge website - just click “Donate Online Now”.