A night to remember. One million children in Honduras and other countries around the world will receive a nutritious school meal thanks to the Clarins Million Meals Concert for FEED, which took place at the Lincoln Center in New York City on May 30, 2012. The concert marked the fifth-anniversary celebration for FEED, the social business that creates bags and apparel to help feed hungry children around the world. Concertgoers were treated to great music and speeches, plus a microdoc that showed how FEED has a profound impact in places like Kenya, Guatemala, and Honduras. Our field producer reports from the field.
Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Clarins Million Meals Concert for FEED, where one of our microdocs screened alongside appearances from John Legend, Natasha Bedingfield, the now-famous PS22 choir, and President Bill Clinton. Many of our microdocs are destined for the web, so we get a bit giddy whenever we have the opportunity to screen a piece on the big screen.
The evening was a stunning success. The event raised one million meals in one night to benefit the World Food Program’s school meals initiative. It also highlighted how a microdoc can help convey a story and inspire viewers into action. As Lauren Bush Lauren, acclaimed model, activist and co-founder of FEED, said, “It is one thing to talk about the issues that face the millions of hungry people around the world, but it is another to go and see firsthand.”
Two weeks ago I traveled to La Paz, Honduras, with Lauren and Christian Courtin-Clarins, the chairman of Clarins cosmetics, to help document the impact of their new partnership. In La Paz we met many local people and saw firsthand how their poverty leads to malnourishment and underweight children. We also saw how FEED is having a tangible impact in places where children need it most. Most recently, FEED and Clarins have created a FEED 15 cosmetics bag; the number on each bag indicates the number of children fed around the world with the purchase of the bag.
It was humbling to see the fruits of their labor and to watch as thousands of concert attendees in New York were inspired to join the cause.
