🕊️ Lenten Action Challenge - Week 1: Transforming Poverty

For Week 1 of our Lenten Challenge we invite you to take one small action to tackle poverty in Scotland. As members of The Poverty Alliance, Justice & Peace Scotland stands with over 280 organisations to demand a Scotland where everyone is treated with dignity.

In his recent encyclical Dilexi Te, Pope Leo XIV calls us to move beyond vague compassion to concrete action on poverty. He reminds us that we are all responsible for all and that our faith is nothing without action.

📧THE ACTION
We are asking all our supporters to send The Poverty Alliance’s 2026 Manifesto to their current MSPs and prospective election candidates.

🛣️WHY SHOULD YOU SEND IT?
Because 1 in 5 people in Scotland are currently held back by poverty, preventing them from living full lives worthy of their human dignity. The Poverty Alliance’s manifesto lays out a clear roadmap to turn the tide on poverty - now our politicians must find the political will to act.

☑️KEY ASKS:
🔹A Minimum Income Guarantee: Ensuring no one in Scotland falls below the income needed to live a dignified life.
🔹Fair Work: Encouraging all employers to adopt the real Living Wage.
🔹Dignified Social Security: Increasing the Scottish Child Payment to £55 per week to lift 20,000 children out of poverty.
🔹Stronger Public Services: Delivering universal free school breakfasts and lunches for all pupils.

WHAT TO DO:
1️⃣Download the Manifesto from the homepage of The Poverty Alliance website.
2️⃣Email your candidates: Attach the PDF with a message asking: "As a voter, I want to know - how will you work to achieve these aims if elected?"

💜By turning our energy from indifference to advocacy this Lent, we can begin the essential work of dismantling the unjust social structures Pope Leo calls us to confront in Dilex Te.