A group of 40 university students from the Australian National University visited Cooma last week spreading the word about ending poverty, as part of a 'Make Poverty History' campaign.
Australian National University students on a national 'Make Poverty History' Roadtrip stopped in for a free lunch provided by campaign supporters at 40 Cafe. At the front is 40 Cafe owner Carron Tordoff-Drew, Chloe Linsen and Richard Evans.
DRESSED in bright red T shirts, they were hard to miss as a large group of mostly university students visited businesses around Cooma, spreading the word to end poverty across the world.
The group of 'ambassadors' descended on Cooma to help get the message out to 'Make Poverty History', on Wednesday last week.
The Make Poverty History Roadtrip involved 800 young people travelling from all the capital cities of Australia.
Make Poverty History spokesperson Sarah James said forty students travelled from Canberra and stopped in Cooma.
"While we were in Cooma we visited a retirement village, had lunch at 40 cafe, they gave us delicious free vegan pies in exchange for Make Poverty History t-shirts for their staff," Ms James said.
"Some of us did door-knocking and then the others did some petitioning around the Cooma CBD.
"Three of the ambassadors were actually from the Cooma area."
Ms James said one of the other key aims of the roadtrip was to kick start their petition asking the government to keep their current commitment to 0.5 per cent of gross national income to foreign aid by 2016/17 and then increase this to 0.7 per cent (70 cents in every $100), to foreign aid by 2020, which is the global standard for OECD countries.
Most of the participants in the Canberra Roadtrip were university students, from the Australian National University.
Ms James said there were also a few high school students, some taking gap years, and other participants working full time.
"I personally joined the roadtrip because I believe in people and that every person deserves the opportunity to make the most out of their lives. "Over the week we were thrilled with the level of support we received from the communities we visited.
"We slept on scout hall floors, were given discounts for our food and accommodation, and were warmly welcomed by locals into their communities.
"Although there were inevitably some people with different opinions to our own it was really encouraging to see that the majority of people also supported our cause," she said.
For more information go to the Cooma-Monaro Express website or go to www.endpoverty.com.au