It’s a little bit overwhelming to walk into BU Central and see just how many people have come out to support Niger Food Relief, a new organization on campus which aims to raise money for emergency food in northern Niger.
The Niger Famine Relief Concert on September 19 was organized by Niger Food Relief (NFR). With over 80% of Nigerians facing food insecurity, the organization provides a short-term and almost immediate solution to a dire situation.
The organization was founded by Jonathan Remple, Laura Parker and Max MacCarthy, three BU alumni who studied abroad in Niger.
The concert rounded out a week of Niger-related events, which included a three day Niger Festival in GSU and a basketball tournament that was co-sponsored by the Pakistani Disaster Relief group. The organizations split the proceeds.
In the past week, NFR has raised $12,000, far exceeding their early estimate of $5-10,000.
Many of this final amount has simply been donations, including an anonymous donation of $3,000. In addition to donations, NFR has been raising money by selling jewelry, postcards and other goods from connections they made while in Niger.
“It’s not just a random country,” said MacCarthy in an interview Sunday night. “There’s a lot of contact and a lot of resources to leverage.”
70% of the earnings goes to emergency food relief while 30% goes straight to the artists. Some of the alumni were assigned to community placement projects with local artists, which is where the NFR gets its products to sell.
To provide food relief, the NFR works with the Nomad Foundation, a grass-roots non-profit that helps provide nomadic Nigerians with water, food, education, health and work. The director of the Niger program, Sue Rosenfeld, is working with both groups to help distribute emergency food relief and to stimulate Niger’s economy by buying food locally.
The concert on September 19th featured local artists such as Sun Cut Flat, MICAH, DJ Supersillyus and Greyscale as well as BU’s spoken word group, Speak For Yourself. The night was a celebration as much as it was a collaboration.
The NFR plans to host more famine relief events throughout the semester. For more information or to donate, visit their website at www.nigerfoodrelief.org.
