A QUESTION from his six-year-old daughter has prompted a father to launch a website to help alleviate world poverty and slow down the destruction of rainforests.

Gareth Ford-Williams, 33, was stumped when daughter Molly asked him: "Why do people go hungry and babies die when we've got lots of food in our country?"

And when she heard that the rainforests were being cut down, she wanted to phone the police.

Gareth did his best to explain but realised it wasn't good enough. He said: "I don't want my kids to grow up thinking there's nothing they can do to help the world, even a little bit. There's always something you can do, it's just finding it. That is where the idea for the website, www.makethatdifference.com, came from."

The idea is that each time a web user visits the charity website they are invited to click on a free donation button, which will `buy', for example, one bowl of rice for a street child in Brazil. This is paid for by the website sponsors who put adverts on the charity site.

Gareth, a business development manager from Ramsbottom, said: "There are so many worthy causes that the public help every year.

"I realised I had to ask for no more than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. Through our website it takes just a few minutes to reduce the amount of suffering in the world and help protect our children's future."

By donating everyday on www.makeadifference.com each user can:

• Protect 260 square feet of rain forest permanently.
  
• Help reforestation in Europe, North and South America by helping to plant three or four trees.
  
• Provide help and medical care to people with cancer and Aids worldwide.
  
• Give food to at least six people in South America and Africa who would otherwise go hungry.
  
• Help build schools and provide education for underprivileged children in developing nations.
  

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