FAO TeleFood Gala in Spain an unprecedented success

12 November 2008, Madrid – FAO’s Gala show of ¡Mira quién baila! (Look Who’s Dancing), broadcast live on 8 November by Spain’s TVE Channel 1 and its International Channel, raised a record €2,2 million for TeleFood projects – and the figure is still rising. 

It was the 12th edition of the annual Gala solidarity event organized by TVE and FAO in their fight against hunger. More than 40 personalities from the world of arts, sports and culture took part in this special edition of ¡Mira quién baila!, presented by Anne Igartiburu. The programme was watched by some 19 million viewers, 45% of the total share. 

Almost one person out of six – a total of 923 million people – suffered from hunger in the world in 2007, when soaring food prices plunged an 75 million people into hunger and poverty. The funds raised during the 2008 Gala will help thousands of families and communities to break out of the hunger trap.

The Gala show featured video reports of some ¡Mira quién baila! participants and ex-participants inspecting FAO projects in the field during recent visits financed by past TeleFood events and by the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID) (Spanish Development Cooperation Agency).

They included a trip by bullfighter José Ortega Cano to the Eastern zone of Guatemala, where he visited several beneficiary villages of FAO’s Special Food Security Programme and TeleFood projects.

José María Sumpsi, Assistant Director General of FAO, gave special thanks to Spanish viewers for their generosity and to TVE for their constant support to TeleFood campaigns. He recalled that every donation will be entirely spent on the projects and that “no one cent of this money will be lost”.

Donations can still be made to  Banesto account number 0030 1001 3700 0070 0270 or at www.banesto.es