WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 23: The Weeknd attends the Music in Action Awards Ceremony hosted by The Black Music Action Coalition at 1 Hotel West Hollywood on September 23, 2021 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
*Families in war-torn Gaza are finding hunger relief with a $2 million pledge from The Weeknd.
Billboard reports the “Blinding Lights” singer, who currently operates under his real name, Abel Tesfaye, made the pledge to the World Food Programme’s humanitarian response efforts via his XO Humanitarian Fund. A statement released on April 29, revealed Tesfaye’s money will be used to provide more than 1,500 metric tons of fortified wheat flour. The flour will be used to make more than 18 million loaves of bread to feed more than 157,000 Palestinians for a month.
The $2 million donation marks Tesfaye’s latest effort to provide aid to Gaza. The famed United Nations World Food Programme Goodwill Ambassador generated headlines in December 2023 with a $2.5 million donation to the WFP’s Gaza response, Billboard noted, adding that the amount is the equivalent of four million emergency meals.
A statement acknowledging the first pledge mentioned the funds provided 820 metric tons of food parcels to more than 173,000 Palestinians for two weeks. To date, the efforts of Tesfaye, his partners and fans have resulted in more than $6.5 million raised for the Fund. The entertainer provided $4.5 million of that amount, which went to relief in Gaza.
Building off his efforts, Tesfaye is asking his fans to donate to WFP’s efforts in Gaza. According to experts, more than one million displaced Palestinians at the location face dire food shortages. The circumstance comes six months into Israel’s punishing response to Hamas’ deadly attack. The terrorist group murdered more than 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped more than 250 men, women, children and elderly citizens.
The Weeknd – Getty
“We are very grateful for Abel’s continued support as WFP works to respond to the urgent hunger crisis in Gaza,” Barron Segar, WFP USA president/CEO voiced in a statement. “Hunger is a human-made problem, and as such, it is solvable. We have enough food in this world to feed everyone; all we need is the funding and safe access to make it happen. Thanks to Abel’s designation, families and children will receive the food they so desperately need.”
The urgency of the food situation is a big concern for WFP’s Geneva office director, who shared his thoughts on the issue after nearly seven months of Israeli action.
“People cannot meet even the most basic, food needs. They have exhausted all coping strategies, like eating animal fodder, begging, selling off their belongings to buy food. They are most of the time destitute and clearly some of them are dying of hunger,” the director stated.
Further complicating matters are the views of experts who feel a famine is on the horizon in what has developed into a dire situation in Gaza, with an estimated 30% of children under two now described as acutely malnourished or wasted and 70% of the population in the north facing “catastrophic” hunger.
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB: The Weeknd Provides Millions of Emergency Meals to Gaza
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