Not Your Everyday Wedding: Launching the Million Meals for Love Campaign To Fight Hunger
Engaged Couple Teams Up With the United Nations for Valentine’s Day Campaign To Help Children Impacted by Violence
Washington D.C./Berlin/Los Angeles—Los Angeles residents Poonam Kaushal and Nishkaam Mehta got engaged last September. Now they’ve got 30 days to tackle their next relationship milestone: Put together the most unconventional wedding gift with the help of their friends, family, strangers who care—and a smartphone.
World Food Program USA and ShareTheMeal—the world’s first smartphone app to solve global hunger—are teaming up with the couple to launch the Million Meals for Love campaign in lieu of putting on a traditional wedding.
They hope to reach their goal by Valentine’s Day—the day they will wed in a civil ceremony in L.A.
“We started talking about how we wanted our wedding to reflect the kind of marriage we hope to have in terms of thinking beyond ourselves and giving back to others,” said Nishkaam about the couple’s decision to launch the unique campaign. “We are using the time and money that would have gone into a traditional Indian wedding to instead donate money to a cause close to our hearts.”
The goal is to raise enough support to provide one million school meals for young children in Cameroon who are affected by the ongoing violence of Boko Haram. All of this will be done using ShareTheMeal, the first-ever smartphone app of the World Food Programme (WFP) and winner of the 2016 SXSW Interactive Innovation Award.
After seeing so much news about violence and tragedy across the globe in 2016, Poonam and Nishkaam realized that they could deliver a powerful message of hope to families around the world at the start of this year—by launching a campaign in the ShareTheMeal app to share meals with people in need through their team #MillionMealsforLove.
As a pediatrician, Poonam has seen firsthand the consequences of child malnutrition while volunteering in Nepal and Peru. She says the experience left a lasting impression.
“Because these children live in rural, remote areas, most people in the U.S. don’t see the consequences of a lack of food and other resources,” Poonam said. “You could definitely notice a significant difference in the stature and size of the children I worked with.”
For his part, Nishkaam had been a longtime donor to ShareTheMeal, an innovative smartphone app developed by WFP to feed hungry children in need. Using the global average emergency price point of US$0.50, WFP can provide vital nutrition for a day.
The couple hopes to share a simple message: That everyone can make a difference in the lives of a hungry child in need.
“We hope our story inspires people in our local communities and hopefully beyond,” Nishkaam said.
To kick things off, the couple has already personally donated enough support to provide 40,000 meals to children in need in Cameroon.
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About ShareTheMeal
ShareTheMeal is the world’s first smartphone app to solve global hunger. Developed by the World Food Programme, ShareTheMeal invites individuals to share a nourishing meal with children in need using a smartphone. So far, the app has raised enough money to provide more than 10 million meals to hungry children in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Malawi and Lesotho. The app is currently raising funds to provide school meals to children affected by ongoing Boko Haram violence in Cameroon.
About World Food Program USA
World Food Program USA is a 501(c)(3) charity that proudly supports the mission of the World Food Programme, the leading humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. Each year, WFP reaches 76 million people with lifesaving food assistance in 80 countries across the globe. By mobilizing individuals, lawmakers and businesses in the U.S. to advance the global movement to end hunger, World Food Program USA bolsters an enduring American legacy of feeding families in need around the world.
Download a high-resolution version of the campaign video.
Download ShareTheMeal’s press kit.
For more information and media interviews, contact:
M.J. Altman, Editorial Director, World Food Program USA: mjaltman@wfpusa.org; (202) 627-3932
Massimiliano Costa, Global Marketing and Growth Manager, ShareTheMeal: massimiliano.costa@wfp.org; +49 15221322360
