Making Celebrations a Blessing – Celebrate with Share

Sri Lanka is a country that loves celebrations. However, a lot of food is wasted and thrown away at big gatherings or events. Why? When Sri Lanka’s cost of living is rising exponentially, and most people cannot afford a decent meal –  isn’t it high time you start thinking about the outcome of your decisions? Well, the good news is that there is a way you can help those in need and at the same time help to fix the food wastage problem in Sri Lanka. ‘Celebrate with Share’, a movement to change the culture of celebration in Sri Lanka, is starting to make a wave of change in this direction. The idea is that you can make your celebration day a blessing by giving away your excess food to a charity organisation. So, here’s how you could be a part of this fantastic movement to make generosity, and sharing and caring a cultural practice in Sri Lanka.

Make the Change

The 16th of October marks World Food Day, which is celebrated to tackle global hunger and commemorate the creation of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). On this same day, ‘Celebrate with Share’ will be launched. “Celebrate with Share is sharing the celebration because when you start thinking about others, many problems solve”, said Celebrate with Share. Right now, with the COVID 19 pandemic, many charity organisations are struggling because they don’t receive sufficient donations. By Celebrating with Share, you will know for sure that your excess food is going towards a good cause. It will become inherent when you think of an event to Celebrate with Share.

According to them, “If someone is deployed to collect food and share, it does not involve cultural change. The biggest problem we have is we have done great work as individuals. However, the day those individuals stop it, everything is halted.” Hence, the focus of ‘Celebrate with Share’ is to change the culture as part of a movement that will enable people to be considerate of the environment and care about the less fortunate.

The brainwave behind this movement is to make generosity and selflessness a shared cultural practice. “If you change the culture, the practice will sustain for an extended period.”, said Celebrate with Share. So it starts by changing the way you think. When you share your celebration with those in need, your celebration becomes a blessing! “We want to call this a movement because a movement creates change.”, they highlighted.

“In comparison, a process creates structure. If a process dies, the initiative also dies. Hence, why we want people to make the change themselves”, they added.

As Sri Lankans, we love food, and we love to share food as well. Just think back to the times at school or college when you and your friends would share a food packet. It created a bond and a memory. So, why not continue that culture of sharing?

Change for Hope

The cost of living and managing food waste has become a significant problem in Sri Lanka. Even so, there are many celebrations where the food is just thrown away. Indeed, food waste is a pressing issue in Sri Lanka, and one of the causes is improper waste management. By joining this movement, you also help manage food waste sustainably. It will also remind hotels and other event organisers to manage their waste sustainably as food wastage results in indirect economic and social costs.

Reducing food waste is critical to ending hunger and poverty. In Sri Lanka, many families have surplus food, but the poor have the bare minimum.  By ‘Celebrating with Share’, you bring people together, regardless of their economic background or social status.

Take Action! You can request the hotel/caterer at your event to give the surplus food to the nearest charity organisation listed on their website (www.celebratewithshare.com), and you will have done a kind and generous deed to look back on, on your day of celebration. It’s that easy! But, that’s not all. You could also help to spread the word about ‘Celebrate with Share’. Tell your friends and family about this movement.

Additionally, if you are a charity organisation, you can email ‘Celebrate with Share’ on [email protected] to add it to their website. For more information,  you could contact them on +94 772 713 669. Also, a big shout out to Kites Global (Pvt) Ltd for constructing their website free of charge. As the ‘Celebrate with Share’ slogan goes, ‘don’t hope for change, change for hope.’ So, join hands with this innovative approach to fight against food waste and support the many charity organisations out there. Make celebrations a blessing.

 

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