Our little Elf for Christmas is so passionate about spreading kindness, joy and fun, that it makes him really sad to think that there are children around the world who are faced with chronic hunger. So along with all his elf pals at the North Pole, he’s looking forward to celebrating World Food Day this year.

World Food Day is a special global day of action to combat and eliminate hunger around the world. Celebrated on October 16 every year, World Food Day was established in 1979, to mark the date the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) was created back in 1945.

Why not join Elf in helping spread the word and find out what you can do to end world hunger?

World Food Day: The facts

It’s a terrible reality that 805 million people around the world – that’s one in nine of us – live with chronic hunger. And it’s an unbearable reality that of those 805 million people, almost five million children under the age of five die of malnutrition-related causes every year.

And yet there is more than enough food in the world to feed every single person. A third of all food intended for human consumption is wasted.

World Food Day aims to redress this imbalance, by raising awareness of the global problem with events and awareness campaigns.

This year, the theme for World Food Day is: “Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too.”

What can I do to help?

Everybody can play a part in World Food Day. The FAO is focussing on climate change this year, and its impact on farming and the environment. A big part of climate change is the 1.3 billion tonnes of food that is wasted every year – so do your bit to cut this by aiming to only buy the food you need and know you will use! That way you’ll not only be helping to save the planet, you’ll also save a few pennies into the bargain.

You can also do your bit to help hungry people in your local area. The Trussell Trust runs a network of more than 400 foodbanks across the UK, helping more than a million people with emergency food supplies every year. You can find your local foodbank and learn what you can do to help them here. It can be anything from donating a few tins of food, to raising money, to giving up your time to volunteer.

Or you can simply help to spread awareness of World Food Day by tweeting about it, using the hashtag #WFD2016.

Whatever you choose to do for World Food Day 2016, if you let us know in the comments below, we’ll pass it on to Santa and make sure you stay firmly at the top of his Nice List!

You can find out more about World Food Day 2016 here.