A crowd of more than 100 people gathered outside the Vernon Library Sunday – joining thousands across the world in an attempt to set a Guiness World Record for the most people to stand up against poverty.Signs and boards were clustered around the grounds of the civic complex encouraging people to rally to bring an end to poverty. 
One of the rally’s organizers, Jack Elliman of the Okanagan Awareness Movement said the purpose of the rally is to bring more local attention to global issues.The focus of the event is also to make people more aware of the United Nation’s Millenium Goals, Elliman said. These goals were ratified by 189 countries around the world in 2000 and are a series of benchmarks on the road to eliminating the root causes of poverty by the year 2015.Elliman said even though many of the world’s worst cases of poverty are far away, it’s still important for Canadians to get involved. He said it will take a global effort to improve the economic situation for the world’s poorest nations.One of the biggest battles Elliman said is to change the ignorance of many people about global problems. He said he hopes the information provided at the rally will encourage people to be more active in getting educated about the world’s problems.“Even if it isn’t going to be huge it’s all about getting people going, getting the energy going,” he said. “There are so many things going on in the world but most people just ignore it.”David Miller who created many of the rally’s signs, brought a cross and coffin he’s created to warn people of the world’s dependence on oil. Dressed in a white coverall and hardhat he said much of the world’s poverty can be attributed to the dependence on oil. He said the rally is a great opportunity to raise the issue of poverty among the next generation.“It’s so fantastic to see young people involved who want to see an end to poverty and want to do something about it,” he said. Scheduled throughout the afternoon were a series of bands and guest speakers. Acting mayor Buffy Baumbrough spoke, as well as representatives from the New Democratic Party and Amnesty International.This is the second rally organized by the Okanagan Awareness Movement, following a rally at Polson Park in July. Elliman said the movement was started by a group of people aged 15 to 30 years old who were concerned about some of the events taking place around the world. He said they grew from a small group who met regularly at Hemp City into a group large enough to organize rallies.“We’re just a bunch of people who want to see something happen in the Okanagan,” he said.After the success of that first rally, Elliman said they decided to continue hosting similar gatherings. He said their next event will protest the involvement of Canadian troops in Afghanistan. That rally will be held on Oct. 28 in Kelowna.At press time more than 160,000 people had been registered from various rallies around the world. The worldwide deadline to submit attendance for the world record attempt is today at 1 p.m.
One of the rally’s organizers, Jack Elliman of the Okanagan Awareness Movement said the purpose of the rally is to bring more local attention to global issues.The focus of the event is also to make people more aware of the United Nation’s Millenium Goals, Elliman said. These goals were ratified by 189 countries around the world in 2000 and are a series of benchmarks on the road to eliminating the root causes of poverty by the year 2015.Elliman said even though many of the world’s worst cases of poverty are far away, it’s still important for Canadians to get involved. He said it will take a global effort to improve the economic situation for the world’s poorest nations.One of the biggest battles Elliman said is to change the ignorance of many people about global problems. He said he hopes the information provided at the rally will encourage people to be more active in getting educated about the world’s problems.“Even if it isn’t going to be huge it’s all about getting people going, getting the energy going,” he said. “There are so many things going on in the world but most people just ignore it.”David Miller who created many of the rally’s signs, brought a cross and coffin he’s created to warn people of the world’s dependence on oil. Dressed in a white coverall and hardhat he said much of the world’s poverty can be attributed to the dependence on oil. He said the rally is a great opportunity to raise the issue of poverty among the next generation.“It’s so fantastic to see young people involved who want to see an end to poverty and want to do something about it,” he said. Scheduled throughout the afternoon were a series of bands and guest speakers. Acting mayor Buffy Baumbrough spoke, as well as representatives from the New Democratic Party and Amnesty International.This is the second rally organized by the Okanagan Awareness Movement, following a rally at Polson Park in July. Elliman said the movement was started by a group of people aged 15 to 30 years old who were concerned about some of the events taking place around the world. He said they grew from a small group who met regularly at Hemp City into a group large enough to organize rallies.“We’re just a bunch of people who want to see something happen in the Okanagan,” he said.After the success of that first rally, Elliman said they decided to continue hosting similar gatherings. He said their next event will protest the involvement of Canadian troops in Afghanistan. That rally will be held on Oct. 28 in Kelowna.At press time more than 160,000 people had been registered from various rallies around the world. The worldwide deadline to submit attendance for the world record attempt is today at 1 p.m.
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