This week is Save the Children Week and the charity's 23 volunteer branches in Northern Ireland are hosting more than 100 fundraising tea parties from Belfast to Belleek
Friday 2 May 2008
May McFettridge played hostess at Save the Children's 'Go Tea-potty' party, held in M&S Belfast.
Save the Children Week runs from 27 April to 3 may. The charity's 23 volunteer branches in Northern Ireland are hosting more than 100 fundraising tea parties from Belfast to Belleek and Kilkeel to Kilrea. The funds raised will go towards Save the Childrens largest ever campaign to show how simple it is to save a child's life.
Each year, 10 million children die before their fifth birthday - that's one child every three seconds. And most still die from treatable or preventable illnesses such as diarrhoea and pneumonia.
Sheri Chamberlain, Save the Children's Programme Director in Northern Ireland said: "The shocking reality behind these figures is that many child deaths could be prevented by staggeringly simple treatments.
"Vaccinations, mosquito nets, rehydration salts and clean water can save a child's life. Having a cuppa or a cream tea during Save the Children Week will help buy them - and save lives."
Save the Children's 'Go Tea-potty' initiative is being supported in Northern Ireland by Marks& Spencer. The company is providing fair trade tea and coffee to volunteer groups, while one of its own local suppliers, Premier Bakeries Ireland, is sending freshly baked Ormo pancakes to be sold at the tea parties. M&S is also supporting 'Go Tea-potty' in its cafes over a two week period.
Thousands of supporters across Northern Ireland are getting involved in what Save the Children has dubbed, 'the world's most important tea party'.
May McFettridge (John Linehan), who is helping to launch 'Go Tea-potty', said: "We all drink an average of three cups of tea a day. I never thought that something as simple as my daily cuppa could help save a child's life."
When drinking your cup of tea, think about the different ways the money will be spent:
- £1 will buy you a cup of tea, and buys 12 packets of oral rehydration salts to treat children with life-threatening diarrhoea.
- £3 will buy you a cup of tea with cake or pancakes, and buys water purification tablets to provide children with safe drinking water.
- £5 will buy you a cream tea, and buys a treated mosquito net so that children can sleep safely at night.
- £10 will buy you two books of raffle tickets, and buys a basic survival kit including food and blankets to keep children safe in an emergency.