For Canadians, the average meal out costs $15 per person.

But you can also do something way above average with $15.

You can save lives.

The island nation of Papua New Guinea, just north of Australia, is in the midst of a severe drought. Most of the people are subsistence farmers, relying on their gardens for food. But their gardens are not growing. Their crops are brown and withered — the ones that came up at all. Now they are hungry.

And the drought is expected to continue for three or four more months.

We want to express our love and concern to our neighbours and the folks we work with every day because we know they are hungry and concerned for their family.

New Tribes Mission is supplementing government relief efforts by focusing on the most hungry of the people served by NTM missionaries. Keith Copley, NTM-Papua New Guinea’s coordinating director, said, “We want to express our love and concern to our neighbours and the folks we work with every day because we know they are hungry and concerned for their family.”

A 10kg sack of rice costs $13. Each sack, about 22 pounds of rice, contains 36,000 calories. Since people need 1,200 calories a day, each sack can provide most of the needs for a dozen people for three days.

Already, people like you have provided enough money to feed thousands of people. Thank you! Several thousand more people need help for a few more months.

• $13 can provide food for a dozen hungry people for three days. Perhaps you could skip a meal out so you can feed others.

• A family of four could give an amount equivalent to skipping one meal out — $52 — and provide enough food for nearly 150 people for a day.

• Or $130 could feed one person for the duration of the drought.