Help a Hungry British Child

I'm a great believer in charity beginning at home and you can help with just an unwanted, old mobile phone.

Yes, I empathise with starving millions across the globe but I personally feel their plight overshadows that of our own people.

I can remember as a child the strange meals we ate compared to my friends. Such as onions, bacon and cheese baked on the oven, brawn, endless pans of cabbage and ribs, cowheel stew and the ever present staple of Hash, sometimes with breast of lamb or corned beef but usually not.

I just thought it was because we were from a different town! I didn't realise it's because money was tight. I was never starving though. I has the security of knowing I would always be fed when I was hungry.

And over the 30 years since then I don't think a lot has changed. I received an email from Netmums this week highlighting the number of British children that are literally starving. Except we tend to call it undernourished. The bottom line is they are hungry and need feeding.

Here's one story...

Amy says: "I would wake up starving in the night but there would be no more food. When I went to people's houses their parents would make as much food as possible for me and more for me to take home. At my best friend's house I would fill up on dog biscuits in-between meals. I would wait at my garden fence and ask passers-by for sweets or food. I would even chip bits of brick off the wall and eat those."

Heartbreaking.

Charity Kids Company works with children like Amy to provide not just food but a childhood, a place to be a child and play. A safe, caring environment where meals are nourishing and regular. But Kids Company is a charity and like all charities can't help those in need without donations.

So what can be done?

Kids Company with the help of Orange and T-mobile are turning unwanted mobile phones into cash to provide meals for the starving children of Britain.

There are several ways to donate you old phone which will provide a child with a months worth of meals. Visit http://www.netmums.com/mobiles-for-meals to see which is easiest for you.

You can also make a text donation of £5 by texting KIDS MEALS to 70700. The donation will be added to your mobile bill.

So how many broken, outdated or unwanted phones are taking up space in your cupboard? Consider that they are worth a months worth of meals to a hungry child and it's worth a clear out isn't it?