Mary’s Meals provides aid to 13,000 families affected by Kerala floods

Mary’s Meals is providing aid to 13,000 families left hungry and homeless following devastating floods in Kerala, India, and is appealing to the public for support.

The UK-based charity, working with its longstanding partner in India, BREAD, is delivering essential food supplies to families in some of the worst-affected areas, and has launched a Kerala Floods Emergency Appeal to collect donations in support of the relief effort.

Father Joson Thakaran, who leads Mary’s Meals’ partner organisation in India, travelled to his home state of Kerala to meet people displaced by the flooding and to coordinate the emergency food distribution.

He said: “These are the worst floods in living memory; a real deluge on a level that is unprecedented. Homes are under seven feet of water. People have lost their livelihoods and their possessions. Some people have lost their lives.

“Mary’s Meals has responded very quickly with a plan to provide emergency food to the poorest of the poor living in the worst-affected areas.”

As the flood waters recede, many people across the region are expected to return from temporary camps to find their homes severely damaged and their crops and livestock decimated. In an initial response, Mary’s Meals is distributing emergency food parcels containing rice to thousands of vulnerable families in two villages within the flood-ravaged Alappuzha District in the Kuttanad region of Kerala.

Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, founder and global chief executive of Mary’s Meals, said: “We have a long history of responding to emergency situations through existing partners who are well-placed to provide quick and effective relief to those who are suffering.

“While providing daily meals in a place of education is always our primary focus, we are moved to respond to those in need whenever we are able and we’re incredibly thankful to our partner in India and to our supporters for their commitment and generosity and for the love they are showing to the people of Kerala in the midst of this disaster.”

 

To find out more or donate, visit marysmeals.org.uk


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