Hugh Jackman Backs Live Below The Line Campaign

Medium skinny latte to kick start the morning; £2.65, BLT for lunch with a juice; £3.50, muffin for an afternoon snack; £1.50, quick take-away after work; £8.

Most of us won’t even bat an eyelid at spending over £15 each day, just on treats, and that doesn’t even include what we spend on food at home!

Can you imagine reducing your food and drink spend to only £1 per day?  This May, over 5,000 Britons will be choosing to do so - they will Live Below the Line.

The campaign - created by the Global Poverty Project and supported by Actor Hugh Jackman - is asking the public to cut their spending on food and drink to just £1 a day for five days (2-6 May 2011). The aim is to raise awareness of the 1.4 billion people who have no choice but to live on £1 a day every day.

Hugh Jackman says: "This is an incredible campaign that really gives us the chance to understand the realities of extreme poverty.

"It is certainly a challenge to eat and drink off of £1 a day for 5 days, but for 1.4 billion people, £5 is all they have not only for food and drink, but also for living costs, clothing - everything!

"Live Below the Line highlights the challenge that over one billion people are faced with everyday and urges us to do something about it, which is why I’m so proud to be supporting this important cause. "

Live Below the Line will raise £500,000 for UK charities working to end extreme poverty by recruiting 5,000 people to take part in the five day challenge and asking their friends, family and work places to sponsor them.  

The Global Poverty Project is asking Britons to sign up to do the challenge for one of the major charity partners of Live Below the Line: The Salvation Army International Development (UK), Christian Aid, Restless Development, Think Global and RESULTS UK.

To take part in Live Below the Line, people can register from today at www.livebelowtheline.org.uk. The website includes tips, recipes and the opportunity to create your own fundraising page.