Carluccio's PLC: Making a difference in Liberia
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An Interview with Simon Kossoff, MD of Carluccio's
In August 2007, Carluccio’s embarked on a partnership with Action Against Hunger and has since raised over £550,000 towards the charity’s life-saving programmes worldwide. Funds raised are used partly to help Action Against Hunger’s work in Monrovia, Liberia.
“I always wanted the team at Carluccio’s to work together on something important that was outside the activity of the company and the connection between the privilege of dining out and supporting a charity focused on helping the hungry is an undeniable one.”
Simon Kossoff, Carluccio’s Managing Director, upon his return from visiting the charity’s programmes in Liberia.
Picture gallery: Simon Kossoff visits feeding centre in Monrovia, Liberia
Simon, why does Carluccio's support Action Against Hunger?
I always wanted the team at Carluccio's to work together on something important that was outside the activity of the company. The connection between the privilege of eating as leisure and supporting a charity focused on helping the hungry is a compelling one which Action Against Hunger has seen and which we are delighted to support.
You recently visited Action Against Hunger's nutrition programme in Liberia funded by the money raised by Carluccio's. Could you tell us a little bit about your experience?
I had never visited anywhere in such dire need of help before my visit to Liberia. One always thinks of this kind of desperation as a function of climate or geography and I was shocked to find a country so devastated over a very short period by politics and war. Nonetheless, in the middle of this desperation the welcome afforded by the people we met and the selfless work of the Action Against Hunger team will remain with me. Visits to Action Against Hunger's therapeutic feeding centre and the slums of Westpoint particularly left the impression of both how people are and also how basic the needs are.
What is the one thing that you would take from your trip?
In the end two small boys will be my abiding memory. John John, a tiny baby desperately ill at home in Westpoint, and Madison, a baby boy cured of malnutrition at the centre.
Simon Kossoff talks about Carluccio's partnership with Action Against Hunger
