US Teens to Take Part in 16th Annual 30 Hour Famine

|PIC1|Teens in the US will participate in the 16th annual 30 Hour Famine on the 23-24 February, forsaking food for 30 hours to get a taste of what the world's poorest children and families face everyday.

Prior to the event weekend, teens will raise funds by explaining that $30 (£15) a month - just $1 (50p) a day - can feed and care for a child for 30 days.

Energised with compassion rather than food during their fast, the 30 Hour Famine participants will gather as groups (representing schools, churches, youth and civic organisations) and consume only water and fruit juices focusing on activities like hands-on community assistance by coordinating food drives, serving in soup kitchens, or assisting in homeless shelters.

Funds raised by the 30 Hour Famine participants will help feed and care for children in poverty-afflicted countries around the globe.

"The 30 Hour Famine has a lasting impact, not just on the children receiving food, care and education, but on participants who view their own potential to affect change very differently afterward," said Debbie Diederich, US director of the World Vision 30 Hour Famine. "Since 1992, 30 Hour Famine has raised more than $80 million, representing countless saved lives."

Last year 30 Hour Famine raised $11.6 million (£5.9 million). This year's goal is $12 million (£6 million).

Hunger and preventable diseases claim the lives of 29,000 of the world's children a day in the midst of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a deadly humanitarian crisis in Darfur, and natural disasters around the world.

852 million people around the world don't have enough to eat, while 12 million children have been orphaned in sub-Saharan Africa.