1:35 am ET, December 2, 2023
Canadian singer-songwriter The Weeknd is serving four million meals in Gaza
From CNN reporters
Sameer Hussain/WireImage/Getty Images
Legendary artist Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye is donating four million meals to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) to help people in Gaza, according to the United Nations.
Tesfaye, who is a UN Goodwill Ambassador, has contributed $2.5 million to WFP humanitarian efforts in Gaza from his XO Humanitarian Fund. WFP report Friday.
The donation is equivalent to four million emergency meals, which will fund 820 metric tons of food packages that can feed 173,000 Palestinians for two weeks.
WFP did not say when the aid would reach Gaza.
Corrine Fleisher, WFP’s regional director, thanked Tesfaye for her contribution, saying, “We hope others will follow Abel’s example and support our efforts.”
More than a million Palestinians in Gaza are “on the brink of starvation,” the WFP said, adding that “an incalculable humanitarian catastrophe” has been unleashed since the conflict began on October 7.
Context: Tesfay has been a Goodwill Ambassador since 2021.
His XO Humanitarian Fund, established in 2022 with WFP USA, has raised $5 million to date.
The first $2.5 million of the fund went to emergency food aid for women and children in Ethiopia, while the rest will be earmarked for the Gaza response, the report said.