Celebs Survived on $2.25

What do a musician, a bishop and a Newstalk ZB presenter have in common? They all chose to live on only $2.25 for their food last week.

Dave Baxter from Avalanche City, Wendy Meyer and the Bishop of Wellington-Justin Duckworth downsized their grocery bills last week in order to get a glimpse into the lives of people living in extreme poverty.

The move to live frugally was part of the “Live Below the Line' campaign, which saw TEAR Fund along with eight other charities, encourage New Zealanders to live on $2.25 a day for their food for five days from 24-28 September.

The aim of the campaign was to give New Zealanders a glimpse into the lives of 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty and to give them a chance to raise funds for those people.

“In today's world, I believe extreme poverty and inequality are unjustifiable and unfair, and that’s why I took part. Live Below the Line demonstrates the problem in a concrete way, while raising money to address the problem,” said Bishop Duckworth.

Leading aid and development agency-TEAR Fund, aims to help rescue girls caught up in the trafficking trade in Nepal and to provide basic survival needs for children in India and Ethiopia.

Wendy Meyer, ex-Newstalk ZB presenter says that she signed up to ‘Live below the line’ for TEAR Fund because she ‘truly connected with the cause.' “Between 7,000 to 9,000 girls are trafficked every year in Nepal. I can only imagine how awful it must be to be taken away from your home to be sold as a sex slave.”

“It’s something a lot of us don’t think about, but this is the reality for these girls. You would never let something like this happen to your daughter-I know I wouldn’t-so why do we shut our eyes to this?” she said.

New Zealand musician Dave Baxter of Avalanche City says he was willling to live on $2.25 as part of the challenge because it is important to do what you can to help to eradicate poverty.

“Being a musician, I've been pretty poor before and I've managed to live on almost nothing. But the awful thing was, despite how many bills I couldn't afford to pay, I was still in the top 10% of the richest people in the world!” It's important to do things like Live Below The Line to show those in need that we care and remind ourselves that it's not right that anyone should have to live below the poverty line.” says Dave.

TEAR Fund raised over $45,000 during the Live Below the Line Campaign.

About Tear Fund
TEAR Fund NZ is a Christian aid and development organization that works in close partnership with local Christian non-government organizations and churches in Asia, Africa, Central and South America. TEAR Fund actively changes the lives of the poor and oppressed through disaster relief, community development and child sponsorship. Assistance and care is always provided without bias or prejudice in terms of race, religion, caste, class, political beliefs or gender.

ENDS

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