Northern Ireland footballer Caragh Hamilton has thrown her support behind SPAR NI and Tearfund’s ‘A Gift for Your Neighbour’ campaign, which aims to raise vital funds that will go towards communities living in poverty around the world, who are feeling the effects of Covid, conflict and climate change acutely.

The NI Midfielder is encouraging shoppers at SPAR, EUROSPAR and ViVO stores across Northern Ireland to donate in store or online until 31 December. Funds raised will then be matched by the retail brands up to £200,000.

Speaking at Windsor Park where Caragh met with Chris Thompson from Tearfund in NI and Bronagh Luke from Henderson Group, Caragh said; “The resilience of these communities inspires me. Although we may not experience the same kinds of disasters, nobody is immune to things going wrong in our lives. In my own experience, having dealt with several serious injuries in my career, I know how important it is to build up resilience and how beneficial it is to have a community around me to help me do it.

“Tearfund’s work in building the resilience of individuals and communities in the face of disaster is vital and I am proud to get behind this campaign.”

Bronagh commented; “Meeting Caragh and listening to her passion for helping others around the world will give our Christmas campaign a fantastic boost. Caragh is a determined player, at the top of her game and using her own experiences of setback and resilience as motivation to help others, is what this campaign is all about.

“A Gift for Your Neighbour has been well-received in our stores since we launched at the start of November, and with Caragh’s backing, we have no doubt the campaign will get a great boost all the way to the end of the year.”

The appeal aims to help support communities like those on the coast of the Bay of Bengal, where families like Juliet’s are already living in poverty, and now the climate crisis is making things even worse for them. Juliet’s family relies mostly on fishing and on growing crops like rice to survive, but now that there is an ever-increasing number of floods and extreme cyclones, it makes life very dangerous and it’s difficult to keep finding the money to rebuild houses and replace belongings that get washed away.

Chris Thompson from Tearfund in NI added; “We are so grateful to the generous staff and shoppers of SPAR, EUROSPAR, ViVO and ViVOXTRA who, again this year, are helping some of the people who live in greatest need around the world. The money we raise this year through ‘A Gift for Your Neighbour’ will go towards helping people like Juliet around the world.

“Tearfund’s partner in the Bay of Bengal has been able to help Juliet’s community find ways to stay safe when flooding comes, and also come up with different ways to earn more income to help them lift themselves out of poverty. Thank you for being a part of helping people like Juliet and her family!”

A Gift for Your Neighbour is now live, with donation boxes in SPAR, EUROSPAR, ViVO and ViVOXTRA stores throughout Northern Ireland, running until 31 December 2021.

Shoppers can also donate online and find out more via tearfund.org/SPAR.

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