Poverty awareness
campaign, which has been successful in the U.S. and has celebrity support,
launches in Canada today.
Ben Affleck has pledged to live on $1.50 a day the week of April
29, 2013.
In most
places around town, a morning cup of coffee will run you more than $1.75.
Imagine having to feed yourself on that sum for an entire day.
That’s
how much some 1.4 billion people worldwide — living below the extreme poverty
line — would have to spend if they lived in Canada. That money must cover all
food and drink needs.
A
campaign that aims to create awareness for extreme global poverty by getting
participants to live on just $1.75 a day for five days is launching the
challenge in Canada for the first time on April 29.
Live Below the
Line’s Canadian challenge, created by the Global Poverty Project,
already has thousands of supporters. The participants will raise money and
awareness for a cause that has blown up internationally with celebrity such as
Ben Affleck, Josh Groban and Sophia Bush participating.
“1.4 billion people live on less than $1.50/day. I’m joining Live #BelowTheLineon
behalf of @easterncongo.
Will you?” Affleck tweeted last
week.
“I think
the aim here is to get people talking and change comes first from simple
conversations. When you tell people that you’re living on that small of an
amount of money per day it definitely encourages conversation,” said Erica Kim,
a spokesperson for the campaign.
Kim said
there are several recipes available for meals that are extremely inexpensive.
Most include lots of vegetables and cheap pasta. Getting creative on a budget
using recipes with vegetables and pasta is the best way to go during the
challenge, said Kim, considering that fast-food items, such as a burger and
soda, exceed the $1.75 a day price tag.
The
campaign, which was a joint creation by Rich Fleming, the founder of the Global
Poverty Project, and Nick Allardice, the founder of the Oak Tree Foundation in
Australia, was launched for first time in 2009 to gain a better understanding
of global poverty.
Since its
launch, it has spread to the U.K., the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.
The idea
is that a participant will sign up with the Live Below the Line website, set a
goal amount of money to fundraise and then participate in the challenge of
spending only $1.75 a day.
When a
participant signs up, they choose to donate to one of four official Canadian
partner charities that the campaign supports.
The four organizations — CUSO
International, Spread the Net, Raising the
Village and Results Canada —
all work to eradicate global poverty in their own way.
Spread
the Net is a grassroots campaign designed to end preventable malaria deaths by
raising funds and awareness to support the purchase and distribution of bed
nets to children and families in Africa; Raising the Village partners with the
most remote villages in sub-Saharan Africa to alleviate extreme poverty by providing
critical infrastructure, tools and training.
So far in
Canada more $40,000 has been fundraised for the challenge and Kim said she
expects those numbers to continue climbing.
“The
average goal for our Canadian participants is about $250 to $500 and most
people have even been surpassing that,” she says.
Wondering how you can get through living on $1.75 a day? Here are
Kim’s tips on how to do it successfully, based on past participant’s advice:
1. Plan, plan and then plan again. Plan your shopping list and
meal ideas. Resources are available at www.livebelowtheline.ca .
2. Take
your $8.75 budget for the week and buy all of your food at once. Shop at bulk
stores & markets, where your dollar can stretch the furthest.
3. Keep
busy! You will think about your hunger (whether it is real or psychological) if
you isolate yourself.
With
files from Star wire service
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