What started as a 2-minute Twitter video became an international campaign to save a nation of starving families.
Famine and blight has stricken the country of Somalia, leaving millions of people without food, livestock, or agricultural support.
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Soon after he posted the video, Hollywood actor Ben Stiller joined the campaign and made a similar 2-minute plea for the airline to help, shortly followed by football player Colin Kapaernick, and social media stars Juanpa Zurita and Casey Neistat.
Finally, a representative from Turkish Airlines contacted the group and said that they would be happy to provide a cargo flight with a 60-ton capacity for food and resources to Somalia on Wednesday. They would also allow food containers to be shipped to the country on their commercial flights until the famine is over.
This left the celebrity crew with 10 days to raise enough money for 60 tons of food. The stars created a Love Army For Somalia GoFundMe campaign with a $1 million goal. As of now, the page has raised over $1.7 million with a new goal of $2 million.
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At the start of the campaign, the celebs plan on purchasing the food in Istanbul, as a thank you to Turkish Airlines for contributing the flight. They hope that as the initiative continues, they can start purchasing the food in Somalia in order to support the local economy.
For water, nonprofits currently working in Somalia say that water trucks can deliver about 2,000 liters from neighboring countries, which would support approximately 100 families of 6 people.
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Donations made to the campaign are also being processed by the Stiller Foundation, making them tax deductible.
“We are not sure how much you will all be able to contribute, or how many difficulties are gonna rise as we execute our mission,” says the stars. “But we know our hearts united together are unstoppable, and if we keep using our hearts, we will keep making the right moves. And this movement will achieve its goal.”
(WATCH the video below)
Click To Share The News With Your Friends (Photo by Love Army For Somalia)