wfn.org | Interfaith Religion Special on CBS to Address Poverty

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

> "Poverty: A Time for Sharing"

An interfaith religion special on CBS April 26

New York, April 1, 2009 - POVERTY: A TIME FOR SHARING, an interfaith 
religion special, will be broadcast Sunday, April 26 on the CBS 
Television Network. Check your local station for exact time.

Half of humanity lives on less than $2 a day. A billion people 
worldwide cannot read or write. Poor children die in great numbers 
from preventable diseases. Global poverty and its killing effect is 
on the rise despite ongoing efforts by governments, the United 
Nations, and Non-Governmental Organizations, including religious groups.

Poverty in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and how American religions 
serve the poor is the subject of POVERTY: A TIME FOR SHARING 
Americans of Faith Confront World Poverty, which will cite the work 
of Protestant, Catholic and Mennonite Christians, Jews and 
Muslims-all sharing a common thread of responding to immediate need 
and empowering indigenous peoples so they can control their own lives.

Many Americans think malaria has been wiped out, but in Africa a poor 
child dies of the disease every thirty seconds. The UN Foundation 
started the "Nothing But Nets" campaign in 2006 in which a $10 
contribution bought a net to protect youngsters while asleep.  The 
United Methodists, Lutheran World Relief and the Union for Reform 
Judaism soon followed suit. We hear from United Methodist Bishop Tom 
Bickerton, an official spokesperson for the "NETS" campaign, 
Elizabeth McKee Gore of the UN Foundation, and sports columnist Rick 
Reilly of ESPN. We also visit Africa for an up-close look at the 
nets' effectiveness.

American Jewish World Service works with 400 non-governmental 
grassroots groups in 36 countries. AJWS president Ruth Messinger 
says, "They need a partner to provide financial and technical 
assistance and, from time to time, wonderful, skilled volunteers." 
She describes working on behalf of underprivileged children in India. 
We also hear from Julia Kaminsky, a volunteer who worked to empower 
women and educate teens about sex in a village in El Salvador.

Mennonite Christians are represented by Arli Klassen, Executive 
Director of the Mennonite Central Committee and Jim Bowman, former 
MCC representative in Kenya. Their work, across 66 countries stresses 
service to the poor and non-violence in all conflicts. Klassen also 
shows us a mobile health clinic in Laos, which gives vaccinations and 
medical attention to mothers and newborns. Bowman describes how 
building a dam to trap water-retaining sand provides a Kenyan village 
with drinking water in the dry spell.

Islamic Relief serves the world's poor in 35 countries using 
donations from American Muslims. "We're in the poorest countries of 
the world," says Natasha Issak a fundraiser in the Northeast 
U.S.  Issak and Yousef Abdullah, operations manager of the Northeast 
Regional Office of Islamic Relief takes us to Afghanistan, where they 
set up training programs to empower Afghanistan's enormous number of 
widows and orphans created by decades of war. Abdullah describes a 
refugee camp in Sudan where IR has dug wells, built a clinic and 
schools serving 11,000 people.

Annemarie Reilly, chief of staff of Catholic Relief Services, the 
worldwide relief arm of the U.S. Catholic Church, describes CRS work 
in response to the tsunami which devastated Indonesia in 2004; 
ongoing work in Ethiopia drilling wells with community help; working 
with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity caring for the poor and 
dying;  and the holistic approach used to serve HIV positive people in Zambia.

John P. Blessington is the executive producer; Ted Holmes is the 
producer. The special is produced with the cooperation of the 
National Council of Churches, The United States Conference of 
Catholic Bishops, The Islamic Society of North American, The Union 
for Reform Judaism and the New York Board of Rabbis.

Press Contact: Jeremy Murphy, 212-975-4577, jeremy.murphy@cbs.com

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228 (office), 
646-853-4212 (cell) , pjenks@ncccusa.org