St Francis of Assisi school joins Walk against Hunger

Over 450 students and members of staff from St Francis of Assisi Primary School in Norwich joined a sponsored walk for CAFOD.

The walkers clocked up a combined total of 1,000km around the school field and Eaton Park, raising nearly £3,000. The event formed part of CAFOD’s Walk against Hunger campaign which took place during Lent, raising money to tackle global hunger.

Clarice, one of the students who took part in the walk said that “when they said how much money we raised I felt proud”. Blake, another student, remarked that “we’ve helped other people not be hungry”.

Jane Crone, CAFOD’s Community Participation Coordinator for East Anglia said: “St Francis of Assisi School have responded to CAFOD’s Lent appeal with great generosity and enthusiasm. Well done and thank you to everyone involved.”

Looking ahead, CAFOD is inviting the Catholic community to get involved in a campaign called Fix the Food System. Although there is enough food in the world for everyone, one in ten people are hungry.

Modern industrial agriculture means that small-scale farmers have increasingly limited choices about which crops they can grow and how they grow them. At the same time food industries are responsible for one third of harmful greenhouse gas emissions, largely due to the production of pesticides which also damage soil, water supplies and biodiversity. Forests and rainforests are destroyed to make land available for rearing cattle for meat and dairy or to grow soya for animal feed.

Communities around the world, including some which CAFOD works with, are demonstrating that alternative food systems can be good for people and good for the planet. One partner, Alpona Mondal from Bangladesh, says learning how to farm organically has changed her community:

“We had not realised just how big a mistake we had made by moving away from the traditional ways of farming of our forefathers. We had become disconnected from nature, but now we are going back to it again. Our village has become a lot greener and healthier after so many of us shifted to organic farming, and the soil has greatly improved. This has had a big impact on the nutrition and health of the families living in this village.”

You can check the CAFOD website for information about how parishes can get involved here and find out more about activities for schools here. Or you can get in touch with Jane Crone on jcrone@cafod.org.uk if you have any questions.

Pictured above are some of the participants in the sponsored walk at St Francis of Assisi school.

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