Toronto to kick off 17-city global vigil to honour children orphaned by AIDS
Dignitaries and local school children join World Vision at CN Tower event

TORONTO, Ont. (Nov. 20, 2007) — Every 14 seconds, somewhere in the world a child loses a parent to AIDS. Every day, 6,000 children begin grieving. On Nov. 29, World Vision invites Canadians to stand with these children by participating in 6,000 Reasons to Act—a global vigil. The event will kick off in Toronto, continue westward to 17 cities worldwide and end 24 hours later in New York City, leading up to World AIDS Day. During the day, the names of 6,000 children who have lost a parent will be read aloud.

Dignitaries and other special guests will join pupils from Keele Street Junior Public School at the top of the CN Tower. They will read the names of 360 children, as a bell tolls between each reading. Stories about the children and facts about AIDS will be interspersed during the reading. Afterwards, the children will create artwork that will be sent to the 2008 International AIDS Conference to be held in Mexico.

During the vigil, the results of a new global public opinion poll conducted by Ipsos Reid for World Vision will be released. The poll compares Canada to other G8 countries with respect to attitudes about the global AIDS crisis. It includes the first attitudes index on AIDS, ranking seven of the world’s wealthiest countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. Motivated by our Christian faith, we serve all people regardless of religion, race, gender or ethnicity. For more information, please visit WorldVision.ca.

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