This has been a very different year and many lockdown rules called for new ways of fundraising.
The Everyone Involved program on November 14 marks the end of the International Adventist Week of Prayer and ADRA’s ingathering campaign, Hjelpeaksjon (Aid Action).
The Adventist church in Norway, in cooperation with Hope Channel and Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), came up with an idea to have people from all the churches around the country gather to watch a special program online. With the latest restriction rules, they were encouraged to join in the program from the comforts of their homes and use the ADRA Norway Facebook page as the platform to communicate with each other.
“There is no doubt that this year we have been concerned regarding the annual appeal and the fundraising,” explains Gry Hauge, ADRA Norway communication director. “Usually, we would go from door to door fundraising through August and September, but we were quite sorry that we could not do that at many places this year.”
However, the pandemic has not stopped the creativity and the joy of doing something for others and many have already contributed to Hjelpeaksjon.
The two-hour program was streamed from an Adventist church in Mjøndalen with live features and video clips from numerous places in Norway, including an online auction. The auction offered a colorful painting, “Everyone Involved,” created specifically for this occasion by artist Anne Valen Næss, a photograph of a cheetah by nature photographer Tom Schandy, a vegetarian cooking course by journalist and cookbook author Bjørn Olav Nordahl, and much more.
The program was streamed via adranorge.no.
“The goal is for everyone to be involved,” says Victor Marley, leader of the Adventist Church in Norway. “A bonus is that this binds us together as a church in a time when many may feel alone and isolated.”
ADRA Norway works in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in Myanmar to improve the life situation of women and children through inclusive quality education and lifelong learning for all.
https://www.adranorge.no/2020/11/koronatilpasset-program-fra-adra-og-adventistkirken/