Add goodness to meals by supporting the Choithrams United Nations World Food Programme’s school feeding campaign

Over the years Choithrams — and you — have helped deliver more than six million meals to hungry children all over the world, thanks to links with the global Zero Hunger campaign.

In partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, we are proud to announce Choithrams will launch the 2022 edition this month (September).

Under the theme, “Add Goodness to Meals”, the awareness and fundraising drive will be rolled out from September 1 and run until December 31, 2022. All proceeds will go to WFP’s School Feeding Programmes, which, this year, will help children here, in the Middle East region.

Through its school feeding programmes, WFP ensures that school aged children have access to nutritious school meals and snacks, enabling them to develop in a healthy way and to focus on their education. Since 2015, Choithrams has supported WFP by donating more than six million school meals, and by advocating the Zero Hunger campaign to millions of UAE residents every year.

“WFP’s School Feeding Programme creates significant savings for families with children," said Choithrams Chairman L. T. Pagarani.

"We believe school meals help relieve parents and vulnerable households from budgeting for lunches, which can be as much as 10 per cent of their income. These meals keep children in school. This is yet another inspiration for our ‘Full of Goodness’ promise at Choithrams, and we are looking forward to making a meaningful contribution alongside our customers, partners and stakeholders.”

For every purchase of “Goodness Foods” products (marked with a special sticker), Choithrams pledges to donate up to Dhs4, from September 1-December 31, 2022. All campaign products can be purchased at any of the 28+ Choithrams outlets in Dubai, or online at Choithrams.com. Don't worry, you'll even contribute when you buy the special-marked items on popular food delivery apps.

“As the number of children who are acutely malnourished is expected to continue to rise risking a lost generation unless action is taken to address poor nutrition among both children and mothers, Choithram’s valuable support to WFP school feeding programmes in the Middle East cannot be more timely," said Mageed Yahia, WFP Representative to the GCC.

"Globally, up to 60 million children could be acutely malnourished by the end of 2022, and the mobilization of funds from the private sector partners is critical to help WFP address such significant challenges”.

Over the duration of the four month-long #ZeroHungerwithGoodness campaign, popular Dubai clinical dietician Mitun De Sarkar will be presenting actionable insights and ideas around the theme ‘Add Goodness to Meals’ across social media channels.

Mitun will be highlighting key ingredients used by WFP for school meals, helping create a strong sense of community and solidarity between donors and supporters in UAE and the beneficiaries of the School Feeding Programmes in the Middle East. Last year, Mitun’s “What’s for Lunch?” video series, in support of the Zero Hunger campaign, were viewed thousands of times by loyal customers and followers.

What is the United Nations World Food Programme?

The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

Follow us on Twitter @wfp_gcc

How does Choithrams fit in?

Established in 2015, the strategic partnership between WFP and Choithrams has delivered tangible, life-changing results for many in vulnerable communities. Choithrams and WFP have collaborated as partners on a variety of Zero Hunger campaigns in supermarket locations across the United Arab Emirates.

More than six million meals have been donated since the start of the partnership in 2015.For many of the schoolchildren supported by the WFP-Choithrams partnership, the meal they receive at school is the only one they’ll eat that day.

That’s why the partnership works hard to increase access and availability to food for children in marginalized communities in the Middle East and beyond. To learn more, visit www.choithrams.com/zerohunger

About #ZeroHunger

In 2015 the global community adopted the 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development to improve people’s lives by 2030. Goal 2 – Zero Hunger – pledges to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture, and is the priority of the World Food Programme.

Every day, WFP and its partners work to bring us closer to a Zero Hunger world. The vision is achieved through humanitarian food assistance providing nutritious food to those in urgent need. In tandem, complementary programmes address the root causes of hunger, building the resilience of communities, so we don’t need to keep saving the same lives each year.