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CAFOD

Our celebrity ambassadors

From backing fundraising appeals to speaking out on issues such as the refugee crisis and seeing first-hand the impact supporters’ donations have on the lives of families living in poverty, we are very grateful for our celebrity ambassadors do.

[Julie Etchingham] - [Lampedusa cross] - [UK] - [refugees]

CAFOD celebrity ambassador, ITV newsreader Julie Etchingham, backed our refugee campaign.

Julie Etchingham

ITV News at Ten presenter Julie Etchingham has hosted our flagship Pope Paul VI Lecture, voiced some of our major fundraising films and sent a message of hope to families forced to flee their homes in search of a better life as part of our refugee solidarity campaign.

To celebrate our 50th anniversary Julie became the first guest editor of Catholic newspaper The Tablet in its more than 170 year history, bringing together some of the most well-known names in UK politics, journalism and entertainment to offer their views on aid and development.

Julie said: "I've been a CAFOD supporter ever since school - it is so lovely still to be involved all these years on, and to introduce my own children to its work too. CAFOD works in the places many of us can't reach: at the sharp end of people's need for support, food and shelter in some of the toughest places on earth. Its dedication is an inspiration - and its ability to educate and draw generations into supporting CAFOD's work is amazing. It's an honour to be an ambassador."

Jo Joyner - Nepal trip

CAFOD celebrity ambassador, actress Jo Joyner, met schoolchildren in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Jo Joyner

Actress Jo Joyner became the face of our Nepal Emergency Appeal after meeting families whose lives had been devastated by the earthquakes.

She also spent a week reporting from Brazil for ITV's Good Morning Britain ahead of the 2014 World Cup, highlighting the plight of communities who were fighting for their rights after being forced to live in shocking conditions.

Best known for her role as Tanya Branning in EastEnders, Jo, who has also starred in No Angels, Ordinary Lies and Marley’s Ghosts, judged our hugely popular children’s competition to design a pair of Fairtrade socks – which then went on general sale to raise funds for our work.

Jo said: “I’m not Catholic but after seeing some of the fantastic work CAFOD does around the world to help people in need – no matter what their religion – I want to do all I can to support them.

“From the slums of São Paulo in Brazil, to the mountains of Nepal, CAFOD and its partners often reach families living in treacherous conditions who would otherwise be forgotten. I am proud to be their ambassador.”

Donate to our emergency response

Dermot in Sierra Leone

CAFOD celebrity ambassador, presenter Dermot O'Leary, met former child soldiers in Sierra Leone.

Dermot O’Leary

TV and radio presenter Dermot O’Leary travelled to Sierra Leone where he met women who had been sexually assaulted during the country’s civil war and former child soldiers undergoing rehabilitation.

The X Factor and BBC Radio 2 star supported Make Poverty History, spoke out about the devastating impacts of hunger for the Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign and has backed our work on ethical mining and climate change.

Dermot and his father won £32,000 on the celebrity version of ITV gameshow Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? which they donated to our work.

Dermot said: “As a lifelong supporter I am proud to be able to use my public profile to highlight how CAFOD transforms people's lives. Seeing CAFOD posters of babies during the 1984 Ethiopian famine was when I first started thinking about what was happening in the world and what I could do to help.

 “I took part in no end of Lent and Harvest fast days when I was at school, and it was really important for me to see for myself the work that the charity does on the ground in Sierra Leone. I think CAFOD does a heck of a job.” 

Inspired to fundraise for us? Check out our A-Z of fundraising ideas