ADRA Supports Anti-Poverty Week

17 September 2006

Wahroonga, New South Wales — The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Australia is urging Australians to help alleviate extreme poverty by participating in its anti-poverty week activities, October 15-21.

The activities and free resources, found at www.adra.org.au, encourage and assist individuals or groups, such as churches or schools, to acknowledge Anti-Poverty Week. They also provide ways for individuals to help the more than a billion people around the world who are desperately poor and the more than one million Australians who are affected by poverty and severe hardship.

As part of Anti-Poverty Week, ADRA Australia is encouraging adults and children to participate in an offering of letters to local Members of Parliament (MPs), to remind government leaders to keep their promises to halve global poverty by 2015, in keeping with the Millennium Development Goals that the Australian Government has committed to, along with many other countries. A sample letter can be downloaded from ADRA’s website, signed and posted. Children are also encouraged to draw pictures or write notes of their concern for those in poverty.

ADRA Australia is also encouraging youth groups to run Locked Up 4 Life (LU4L) at their local church or community centre. ADRA’s Locked Up 4 Life is a 19-hour refugee simulation activity that requires participants to secure sponsorship for living as a refugee for a day. Going over one night, including sleeping

in ‘temporary housing’, LU4L not only raises money for development projects but also helps young people better understand the issues surrounding poverty.

Details of the offering of letters, ADRA’s Locked Up 4 Life program and other Anti-Poverty Week activities can be found at www.adra.org.au. The offering of letters has been organised by Micah Challenge, an alliance of churches and Christian groups, of which ADRA is a member, that aims to deepen churches’ engagement with the poor as an integral part of the Christian faith.

Anti-Poverty Week was established in Australia as an expansion of the UN’s annual International Anti-Poverty Day on October 17. It aims to strengthen public understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty and hardship, and encourage research, discussion and action to address these problems.

ADRA Australia is a non-government organisation (NGO) engaging in sustainable development programs and disaster relief for people in Australia and abroad. It is fully accredited with the Australian Government’s Agency for International Development (AusAID) and is signatory to the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) Code of Conduct. The ADRA network has a presence in more than 125 countries.

For more information about ADRA Australia visit www.adra.org.au.

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