Charity has winning formula for Cambodian babies

• 

  Jenny Christie with one of the Kindy kids from New Hope Cambodia. Photo: Contributed Contributed

  By Jessica Black
• 13th Feb 2013 
• http://www.dailyexaminer.com.au

GRAFTON'S Jenny Christie has a habit of going all out and getting hands on.

Her stint with Cambodian charity New Hope saw her and sister Kath Grant buying out a local supermarket of baby formula for the malnourished bubs they met at the charity clinic.

That one action, and ten cans of formula, has been projected and multiplied on a much larger stage.

"It's about giving kids this kick start. Their mums don't have enough breast milk, having five, maybe seven children," said Mrs Christie.

"They're getting more and more malnourished bubs coming in and they can only buy it [baby formula] when they have extra funds."

The retired financial planner started the Feed the Babies Project, which aims to raise $10, 000 through various events in and around Grafton. Funds raised will aim to feed New Hope's 36 infants for 12 months.

But this money can only go so far, especially when buying at retail prices, so Mrs Christie and her sister approached Dumex, the Malaysian based company which distributes baby formula in Cambodia.

"We're paying retail price at $9.30 American and that's only going to go up I believe and so I just Googled the company and found their email and they replied within 48 hours. Last I heard the contract was ready to go back to the company for sign off."

The contract will give New Hope a 15% discount, as well as free delivery.

The generosity from Dumex has been repeated locally, said Mrs Christie.

"The overwhelming response from businesses in Grafton to support this has been absolutely amazing. We have over 20 different businesses donating to the events that we've got."

Another advantage to donating to the New Hope charity is that 100% of money given to the cause goes to the projects, with special donors covering administrative costs.

With an international liaison now in place, it's all down to local participation.

"Now we need to get the people to the events to get these sums in!"