Monday, April 29, 2013

Live Below the Line: Can you survive off $1.75 a day?


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.
By: Victoria Ptashnick News reporter, Published on Mon Apr 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 InternationalSpread the NetRaising 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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