Registration is open for the 2015 Live Below the Line campaign to take the challenge by spending $1.50 on food and drink for one – five days between April 27 – May 1, 2015 to call attention to extreme poverty.
Live Below the Line is an innovative awareness and fundraising campaign that aims to spark dialogue about current victories in poverty reduction and engage people to empathize with the 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty. It is an initiative of The Global Poverty Project, an advocacy and campaign organization, whose mission is to increase the number and effectiveness of people taking action to end extreme poverty by 2030.
“I participated in Live Below the Line last year, and I look forward to participating again this year,” said Heifer International President and CEO Pierre Ferrari. “It was an eye-opening challenge that gave me a glimpse of what it might be like for our participants, who must go about their days on fewer calories than they really need.”
There are more than 600 million small-scale farmers and herders who are key to ending global hunger and poverty; and by 2020, Heifer International’s goal is to help 4 million families, who currently experience extreme hunger and poverty, secure an annual livable wage to live resilient, self-reliant lives. This ambitious goal will take families well beyond $1.50 per day, per person, to a regionally defined income that allows them to educate their children (including the girls); feed themselves adequately across every month of the year; and have proper housing, water, hygiene, etc.
Live Below the Line will benefit leading nonprofits doing life-saving work throughout the world including Heifer International. When participants sign up to Live Below the Line, they can direct their fundraising efforts to Heifer International while rallying their social networks to help end extreme poverty within our generation.
This year, The Global Poverty Project aims to motivate tens of thousands people around the world to participate in this campaign. In 2014, Live Below the Line raised over $2 million globally and gained support from celebrities, influencers, students, mothers, communities of faith, and world leaders.
Previous supporters of Live Below the Line include Ben Affleck, Hugh Jackman, Tom Hiddleston, Josh Groban, Malin Akerman, Dr. Jill Biden, Nick Lachey, Sophia Bush, Jonha Hill, Chef Carla Hall and Minka Kelly.
The campaign can be followed on Twitter @LBLUS with the hashtag #BelowtheLine and on the Live Below the Line US YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/livebelowthelineus. The campaign’s Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/LiveBelowTheLineUSA. For more information or to register for Live Below the Line, visit: www.livebelowtheline.com/us.
ABOUT HEIFER INTERNATIONAL
Heifer’s mission is to end hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth. For more than 70 years, Heifer International has provided livestock and environmentally sound agricultural training to improve the lives of those who struggle daily for reliable sources of food and income. Heifer is currently working in more than 30 countries, including the United States, to help families and communities become more self-reliant. For information, visit www.heifer.org, read our blog, follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @Heifer or call 888.5HUNGER (888.548.6437).