Tony Blair to Speak at Joint WJR and Tony Blair Faith Foundation Event
WJR, in partnership with the Tony Blair Faith Foundation (TBFF), are inviting members of the community to a breakfast event in Central London, to hear Mr. Blair talk about the Foundation's work and the connection with WJR.
Half of the proceeds from the event will be raising funds for WJR's street kids programme in Rwanda, which was visited by TBFF's Chief Executive Ruth Turner just last week. The project seeks to provide homes, educational/vocational assistance and emotional support for former and current street-living and working children, vulnerable girls and single mothers.
Established last year, the TBFF aims to promote respect and understanding about the world's major religions and show how faith is a powerful force for good in the modern world, by encouraging inter-faith initiatives to tackle global poverty and conflict. The other half of the proceeds from the event will raise money for the TBFF's Faith Act Fellowship, which will facilitate a ten month interfaith programme for 30 young people of different faiths, aged between 18-25, from the UK, US and Canada. These individuals, some from the British Jewish community, will embark on a journey that will begin in Africa and focus on interfaith activity in grassroots faith communities in their home countries to raise awareness and funds against deaths from malaria.
Paul Anticoni, WJR's Chief Executive, commented:
"This is an unprecedented opportunity for WJR, the TBFF and UK Jewry -- Mr. Blair is a renowned speaker and a friend of the Jewish community. As the major Jewish UK humanitarian organisation that supports development work outside of Israel, we have been working with the Foundation for a while now and have enormous respect their work. Like the TBFF, our programmes are trying -- and succeeding -- to change lives in the most complex and challenged of areas. The beneficiary of the event -- WJR's street kids project in Rwanda -- is a prime example. It is a remarkable programme that gives both a voice and a helping hand to children who have been neglected and ignored."
Ruth Turner, Chief Executive of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation added:
""The children we met at the centre in Kayzona were transforming their lives with the help of the dedicated staff in Rwanda and the generosity of Jews and people of other faiths in the UK and beyond. We're proud to be working with WJR to find more opportunities for people of different religions to show their faith in their own God through service and their love of humanity. We know that some of the Faiths Act Fellows who will start their interfaith work in the UK in August will be exceptional young people from the Jewish community. They'll stand as an example of young people whose faith motivates them to do good."
