Young Labour Connecting With Communities

Young Labour is starting 2013 with a bang by travelling the country to connect with local community groups. A diverse van full of Young Labour members will be stopping in a number of towns across New Zealand to support and learn from local communities.

"This year's Clarion Tour will start in Auckland on the 18th of January and work it's way down to Wellington ending on the 25th," said Andreas Triandafilidis, a Clarion Tour veteran. “We will be using that time to put our Labour values into action; to work people and organisations that deal with poverty, conservation, and other community issues on a daily basis.”

This isn’t the first time that Young Labour has organised a Clarion Tour. Previous tours were held in the summers of 2004 and 2011 and involved activities such as cleaning a local Plunket centre, making food parcels, and gardening at an emergency housing complex.

“Young Labour is really excited about getting out on the road and offering some - if you’ll excuse the pun - ‘young labour’ to community groups who are in need of a helping hand,” said Shayne Misselbrook, Young Labour President.

“We will be supporting foodbanks in West Auckland, planting trees in Hamilton, cleaning up parks in Mana, and helping a number of other worthy causes. We will also be blogging our progress and experiences along the way on our website clariontour.co.nz”

The Clarion tour is named after the famed Clarion Cycling Club, which consisted of a group of dedicated British political activists who rode around the English countryside in the 1890s talking about their vision for a better and fairer society.

Young Labour hopes that the week-long adventure, now just three days away, will once again help bring attention to the excellent and important work that various community groups do every day.

As Clarion Tour participant Soraiya Daud said, “We are ready to get our hands dirty and help those who have consistently supported their fellow New Zealanders and worked hard to their build communities in tough times. It’s the right thing to and I look forward to being a part of our 2013 service tour.”

ENDS

Find out about previous Clarion Tours and follow the progress of the 2013 Clarion Tour at clariontour.co.nz

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