Large crowd expected for Rev Tim Costellos’ Kerferd Oration

Organisers are expecting a large crowd for this Sunday’s Kerferd Oration in Beechworth by the CEO of World Vision, Rev Tim Costello AO.

Tim Costello has been a leading voice in debates on poverty, gambling, homelessness, reconciliation and drug abuse. And since 2004, when he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of World Vision Australia, he has ensured that global poverty has been placed on the national agenda, particularly through the Make Poverty History campaign.

His Kerferd Oration, “Community Values for a World in Need”, is timely. The global financial crisis, terrorism, conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan and parts of Africa, climate change and extreme poverty, demand our attention.

“Many of Victoria’s community values have been forged in the intensity of fire and concentrated through drought,” Tim says. “Facing terrible hardship can be devastating. Knowing that other people – people around you that you may not even know – are on your side brings relief and an immense sense of common spirit and purpose. It creates resilience and hope.”

Tim speaks of the values of compassion: of good humour, friendship, tolerance and human dignity. “It is about the practice of going beyond immediate needs and desire for comfort, to the richness of seeing others prosper and grow, and celebrating their worth,” he says.

“And these qualities and gifts of generosity not only build up those around you, but can be part of the solution for the most intractable problems facing the global community, including poverty, and climate change.”

Sunday’s Kerferd Oration is a free community event at the Kerferd Conference Centre at La Trobe Beechworth. It begins at 11am, doors open at 10.15am. A light lunch will be provided after the Oration.