Living off the food of a Syrian refugee for a week may sound like a gimmick but for Alli McGoldrick it has a personal focus.
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Alli is in the final preparation stage for the seven day ration challenge and said that the small price she will pay is nothing compared to what refugees face everyday.
“This year during Refugee Week – June 17-24 – I will be living on the same rations as a Syrian refugee for a week to raise money and awareness of the plight of refugees around the world,” Alli said.
“The fundraising initiative is called the Ration Challenge and I have wanted to do something like this since I worked in a refugee camp in 2016.
“Through working at the camp I learnt a lot about their conditions – including food rations – and how the people are feeling being displaced.
“The food rations given out are incredibly small and basic, same day in and day out.
“While I was there, I would try and give out addition food to people to help with both nutrition and mental well being and that is why this challenge is something I am particularly passionate about.”
Alli said that helping people in need is something she has a strong desire to do, and the ration challenge is a very obvious way to do that.
“I’d been feeling really down about the situation experienced by refugees overseas for quite some time,” she said.
“When I found out about the Ration Challenge through social media I immediately signed up to take part mainly because I still wanted to do something big to try and help.
“Seeing the small amount of food that I will be living on for a week is daunting, but its good to further understand how it feels to have this as my only meals, not just to be handing it out.
“I have seen how truly devastating it is for people to live on rations for years and years and I hope that I can raise some awareness.”
On top of only eating rations, Alli is also raising money for refugees and has so far collected more than $1000.
“My family and friends have sponsored me to take part in the challenge with the money raised going to support refugees in camps and other vulnerable communities who desperately need our help.
“I have also been blown away by how supportive the community has been.
“The plight of refugees has a special place in my heart and I thought people would just overlook what I was actually trying to do but that is not the case at all.
“People have been so wonderful and encouraging, my first goal was to raise $1000 and now that I have that I have increased my goal to $1,500.”
To help Alli raise money for refugees click here.