NEW YORK— Actress Drew Barrymore donated $1
million of her own money on Monday to the World Food Programme
that the U.N. agency said would be used to feed thousands of
schoolchildren in Kenya.
Barrymore, 33, a WFP ambassador against
hunger, announced her pledge on The Oprah Winfrey Show to kick
off the agency’s $3 billion "Fill the Cup" campaign that aims
to feed 59 million hungry school children in developing
countries for a year.
WFP hopes the United States will be able to
donate enough money to feed 10 million of those children.
"I have seen with my own eyes what a
difference a simple cup of nutritious porridge can make in a
child’s life," said the "Charlie’s Angels" star, who has
traveled to Kenya twice in the past two years for WFP.
"It helps them learn, stay healthy and sets
them on track for a bright future. I urge everyone –
everywhere – to help WFP ‘Fill the Cup’ for hungry children,
and make hunger history," she said in a statement released by
the agency.
Barrymore, who gained fame as a child star
in the film "ET: The Extra-Terrestrial," is the
eighth-highest-paid actress in Hollywood, according to The
Hollywood Reporter, earning more than $10 million a movie.
The WFP is facing a $500 million gap in
funding this year due to the rising cost of food – up 40
percent since June, WFP officials said. That prompted the
actress to visit the world’s largest grain trading floor in
the Chicago Board of Trade building on Monday where corn,
wheat, soybean and rice futures trade.
Josette Sheeran, WFP’s executive director,
said $50 "fills a child’s cup for a year" and called on people
to donate through the Web site www.wfp.org.
The organization said last year it provided more than 20
million school children with a daily cup of porridge, rice or
beans and also gave many girls a monthly ration to take home
to their families.– Reuters
