Double the Love this Mother's Day

Fresh danish pastries and coffee at Raincity were a fine start to a working day. We were a largeish group of women, assembled at the Belfast restaurant for a new Mother’s Day campaign from Save the Children NI, which celebrity chef Jeanne Rankin is supporting.

The campaign called 'Double the Love this Mother’s Day' takes a look at the lives of African children who are growing up as carers in their households because their mothers are dying of Aids.

The message to those of us breakfasting was simple – with proper community support, these mothers can be cared for in their homes and continue to care for their children.

Save the Children argues that the more care a mother gets, and the longer she can be supported at home, the better her children’s chances of survival.

GIFTS
To raise funds for the campaign, the charity has launched a choice of two Mother's Day gifts priced at £10 or £5. Both take the form of a Mother’s Day card, with £10 buying seeds for a vegetable patch and £5 a basket of food for a family. The card contains a DVD explaining the story behind the donation. Why not purchase a card for Mother’s Day this year?

MOTHER'S DAY BREAKFAST
Jeanne Rankin is one of eight top UK chefs who has contributed a special Mother's Day breakfast recipe to the campaign. Download all eight recipes from the Double the Love website, from Antony Worrell Thompson's kippers with scrambled eggs to Jeanne's Huevos Rancheros.

The launch of the Mother’s Day gifts and recipes is the first phase in the Double the Love campaign. The next is the launch of Missing Mothers, a report which focuses on the needs of children affected by AIDS. Missing Mothers will launched online on 20 March at www.savethechildren.org.uk

For more information about the report or the Mother’s Days gifts contact Christine King at Save the Children NI on 028 9043 1123.