In Norway, Fundraising Event Gets Everyone Involved

By Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Norway, and Adventist Review

The year 2020 has been a very different year. Many lockdown rules called for new ways of fundraising. In Norway, the “Everyone Involved” program held on November 14, 2020, marked the end of the international Adventist Week of Prayer and the Adventist Development and Relief (ADRA) Ingathering Campaign known as Hjelpeaksjon.

In cooperation with Hope Channel and ADRA, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Norway 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 comfort 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,” Gry Hauge, ADRA Norway communication director, explained. “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 the ADRA fundraising campaign.

The two-hour program on November 14 was streamed from an Adventist church in Mjøndalen, with live features and video clips from numerous places in Norway, and included an online auction. The auction offered a colorful painting, “Everyone Involved,” painted for the occasion by artist Anne Valen Næss. The auction also included a photograph of a cheetah by nature photographer Tom Schandy; a vegetarian cooking course by journalist and cookbook author Bjørn Olav Nordahl; and other items.

“The goal is for everyone to be involved. A bonus is that this binds us together as a church in a time where many may feel alone and isolated,” Victor Marley, leader of the Adventist Church in Norway, said.
ADRA Norway works in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in Myanmar to improve the life situation of women and children through inclusive high-quality education and lifelong learning for all.

The original version of this story was posted by ADRA Norway.