Honor The Dead Press Advisory

Honor the Dead - Press Advisory - For Immediate Release

First-Ever Public Eulogy in San Francisco to Raise Awareness about Global Poverty A first-ever public eulogy for the global poor who die each day will take place in San Francisco at UN Plaza on October 8th. The event, hosted by Honor the Dead, and supported by RESULTS.org volunteers, will honor the tens of thousands of people across the world who die each day from poverty-related causes like malnutrition, tuberculosis, AIDS and malaria. Leaders from multiple faiths as well as average citizens will give eulogies to honor the deceased as a means to inspire action to address extreme global poverty. San Francisco, September 23, 2009 — Bay Area citizens and leaders from religious and secular backgrounds plan to gather together at San Francisco’s UN Plaza on October 8th at 7:30 PM for a unique event: the first public eulogy to honor the tens of thousands of people around the world who die each day from poverty-related causes. According to UNICEF, largely avoidable, poverty-induced causes such as malnutrition, tuberculosis, AIDS and malaria result in the deaths of over 24,000 children each day, a shockingly high rate of one death every 3.5 seconds. Under-nutrition contributes to more than half of these infant deaths, as do common causes with well-known treatments, such as pneumonia (over 5,000 deaths per day), diarrhea (4,000 deaths per day), and malaria, AIDS and measles (together over 3,000 deaths per day).1 “The more people are aware of the chronic death toll from global poverty, and the relatively low cost of solutions to address it, the more they will change their priorities,” said Alex Thompson, RESULTS volunteer and founder of Honor the Dead. “The public eulogies aim to honor the dead and inspire action in citizens to come up with the solutions and resources to address extreme poverty.” The eulogies build upon an initiative started by an interfaith group of San Francisco-based religious leaders. Over ten years ago, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and other faith leaders started the practice of delivering interfaith eulogies each December for the homeless who pass away in San Francisco during the year. Several leaders who have been delivering eulogies for the homeless for years will be at the initial event focused on global poverty: Reverend Glenda Hope of Network Ministries, Rabbi Peretz Wolf-Prusan from the Temple Emanu El, Imam Suleiman Gali from the Islamic Society of San Francisco, and Sister Chandru Desai from the Brahma Kumaris Meditation Center. Additionally, Ugandan-American Educator Marcellina Otii of Educational Resources for Africa. Oakland-based choir Vukani Mawethu will perform songs from Southern Africa. The public will join in participating by lighting candles for a candlelight vigil. Parties interested in joining the movement to address global poverty on an on-going basis will be directed to organizations like RESULTS, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization devoted to building a grassroots community in support of global poverty alleviation, and Nothing But Nets, devoted to fighting malaria by distributing insecticide-treated bed nets. Event Date and Time:

Thursday, October 8, 7:30 PM

Event Location: Admission:

UN Plaza (Near Civic Center BART on Market St.), San Francisco Free and open to the public

For More Information Contact: Name: Alex Thompson Organization: Honor the Dead Phone: (510) 521-6442 Email: [email protected] Web: http://honorthedead.org Facebook: Search for “Honor the Dead” or go to http://www.facebook.com/event.php? eid=119762455125 Honor the Dead Honor the Dead is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to raising awareness of global poverty to its proper place as the most important issue in human affairs. HTD conducts public eulogies for the tens of thousands of people who die every day from poverty-related causes. By increasing awareness, HTD aims to inspire citizens in developed nations to join the poor in confronting the most important challenge of our era: how to come up with new, creative solutions and resources to bring an end to extreme poverty. http://honorthedead.org RESULTS RESULTS is a nonprofit organization devoted to creating the public and political will to end poverty by empowering individuals to exercise their personal and political power for change. We combine the voices of our passionate grassroots activists with strategic grass-tops efforts to leverage millions of dollars for programs and improved policies that give low-income people the health, education, and opportunity they need to thrive. http://www.results.org Reference 1: UNICEF, State of the World’s Children, 2008