Bread Blog

BLOG ACTION DAY 2008 - POVERTY

Today is Blog Action Day - Poverty. Around the world, thousands of bloggers have united to discuss a single issue - poverty. Through this effort, event organizers aim to raise awareness, initiate action and to shake the web!

There are hundreds of ways to play a personal role in ending poverty, from volunteering, to donating to charities, to supporting socially conscious businesses. Bread for the World encourages our members to engage in these kinds of activities, but also recognizes that ending hunger and poverty requires political engagement as well. By changing policies, programs and conditions that allow hunger and poverty to persist, we provide help and opportunity far beyond the communities in which we live.

Every year, Bread for the World invites churches across the country to take up a nationwide Offering of Letters to Congress on an issue that is important to hungry people. Year after year, Bread members have won far-reaching changes for hungry and poor people.

Bread for the World Institute provides policy analysis on hunger and strategies to end it. The Institute educates its advocacy network, opinion leaders, policy makers and the public about hunger in the United States and abroad. In recognition of Blog Action Day, Bread for the World Institute has posted a basic primer on domestic and international hunger and poverty issues.

What's art got to do with poverty?

Thursday, October 16 is World Food Day and this weekend many groups around the world are putting together events as part of the international campaign Stand Up Against Poverty (October 17-19). 

Stand Up is a global mobilization to end poverty and inequality and to raise awareness for the Millennium Development Goals.  The ongoing hunger crisis and economic downturn brings new challenges to progress on achieving these goals.  Every day, 50,000 people die as a result of extreme poverty and the gap between rich and poor people is increasing.  Nearly half the world’s population live in poverty, 70% are women.  We have the power to change this.

Here in Portland, Oregon we are using art as a form of advocacy to mobilize and educate our community about the realities of hunger in the developing world.  Portland State University students have been rallied together by one passionate student, Carrie Stiles, who believes people can and must make a difference.  The event she is directing has pulled together politicians, anti-hunger advocates, global poverty experts and artists.  Artists are not usually the main attraction at a hunger awareness event, but Carrie is one of those people who can think outside the box.

Who better can tell a visual or auditory story through pictures, dance or music that connects us to our compassion but artists?  Artists live in the heart often more than the mind.  Art is a compelling form of advocacy that has been used throughout the ages.  Think of the wood engravings of Fritz Eichenberg during the depression that portrayed the long soup lines (see above image).  Eichenberg used his gift to call for peace and justice in this world throughout his life.

Last Friday, the PSU Stand Up artists gathered together in a local studio and created a web of advocacy by passing around a ball of yarn.  We looked at how advocating for one issue is connected to another.  For example advocating for orphans was connected to nearly every MDG.  Without help to care for themselves, orphans are connected to extreme poverty and often malnourished.  Further, lack of a proper education for an orphan in the developing world (where few get an education with meager government funds to invest in schools) limits their resources later in life.  Many orphans also find themselves in their precarious situation in areas like Sub-Sahara Africa because they lost their parents to HIV/AIDS.  The list can go on and on.

As we have lately seen, our world economies are interconnected.  Our world food system is also interconnected.   Our simple exercise in passing a ball of yarn showed us the connections between each of the Millennium Development Goals.  The root causes of global poverty are complex, but the MDGs are a comprehensive road map to at least cut extreme hunger in half by the year 2015. We just need the political will to follow the path.   I’m excited to see what our artists will come up with outside the usual box of advocacy on Friday.

Your Gift of Citizenship

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees hypocrites!  For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.  It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.”  MATTHEW 23: 23-24.

Photo by Eric Munoz

    Recently members of the Bread for the World Institute traveled to Ethiopia and saw first hand the devastation of extreme hunger.  In Sub-Sahara Africa too many of God’s cherished children suffer from too little access to the food required to survive.  As recently pointed out in Institute Notes, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has released new estimates that in 2007 the number of hungry people in the world has increased by 75 million.  In Sub-Saharan Africa where the average person spends upwards to 80% of their income on food, the sky rocketing prices of basic grains are leading to devastating hunger.  In the U.S., increased food prices have hit hardest those with low incomes and those who are looking for work
    Biblically, over and over again, God calls us through his prophets and Son to speak up for the widow and the orphan; to not “neglect the “matters of the law”. In 1 Corinthians 8 we are told, “To each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good.”  We can easily view that our citizenship, where we have the freedom and responsibility to influence our elected officials, is just such a gift to be used for God’s good.  As Christians we must use those gifts to remind our leaders through questions on policy, letters of advocacy, and our combined voices that we have a moral imperative to improve the lives of poor and hungry people.
    Bread for the World has launched the Bread Election Action Team against Hunger – or “BEAT Hunger ‘08.” Over 1,000 activists have joined their voices so far to infuse the election with dialog about hunger and poverty both at home and abroad.  We are using our gifts of voice and citizenship by attending candidate appearances around the nation and asking each candidate about their policies on issues that affect the poor and hungry. We must demand real solutions to injustice to see a real change.

Time is running out on the Global Poverty Act

We sent out an action alert today to our networks about the Global Poverty Act.  Congress is quickly approaching the end of its congressional session.  We'd like to see the Global Poverty Act reach the senate floor for a vote.  If it doesn't go to the floor, we'll need to start all over next year with the new congress.  Your voice is important.  Here are a few easy steps for taking action:

1) PRAY: Please pray that God will work in the hearts and minds of all U.S. senators. Pray that God moves them to understand that taking actions like passing the Global Poverty Act helps our nation keep the promises it has made to the world's poorest people.  Pray that the senators will be motivated by a deep concern for justice for all God's people.

2) ACT: Before you make your call, check to see if your member of congress is a cosponsor of the Global Poverty Act (S. 2433).  If so, read a list of talking points for existing cosponsors.

If your senator is not listed as a cosponsor, ask them to cosponsor the Global Poverty Act (S. 2433) and pass the legislation before the end of this congressional session.   Call 1-800-826-3688 as soon as possible but no later than July 25. 

[Note:  This toll-free number will connect you to the Capitol switchboard, where you will ask to be connected to your senator's office in order to leave your message. Find out who your senators are.]

Key points to make when you call:

• Please cosponsor the Global Poverty Act. (If your senator is already a cosponsor--click here for the list--your talking points will be different. Read the list of talking points for senators who have signed on as cosponsors.)
• With time running out on the legislative calendar, Senate leadership needs to see a robust list of cosponsors to move this important bill to the floor.
• The Global Poverty Act seeks to bring clarity, coordination, and accountability to our foreign assistance programs has already passed through the House and has bipartisan support in the Senate.
• The act would require the president to develop and implement a coordinated strategy of U.S. aid, debt relief, and trade policies to meet the goal of cutting by half the number of people who live on less than $1 a day by 2015.

Visit this page for background information.

Post in the comments section to let us know how it goes!

Recipe for Hope: Respond to the Hunger Crisis

You can make a difference in the global hunger crisis.

It's in the news nearly every day: Food prices are soaring worldwide. More low-income people in the United States are making trips to food banks, whose stocks are quickly depleting. In developing countries, for the world's poorest people—who spend up to 80 percent of their income to buy food—the situation is even more devastating. 

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But you have the power to be part of the solution.  JOIN THE CAMPAIGN

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For six weeks, from Mother's Day through Father's Day, Bread for the World will conduct an online campaign to help hunger activists raise awareness and take action. Each week, an email from Bread will offer the ingredients for:

• Recipe for Despair
  More information on the causes of this crisis; and a


• Recipe for Hope
  Specific actions you can take to help end it. You can also invite your friends to join the campaign.

It's easy to feel helpless when you watch people around the world suffering for lack of food. Be part of the Recipe for Hope, and be part of the solution.

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JOIN THE CAMPAIGN 

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Learn more about rising food prices and the hunger crisis.

Read Bread's press release on the Recipe for Hope and invite your friends to join on Facebook.

We'll also be updating the blog during the six-week campaign with the actions we'll be urging folks to take - thank you in advance for joining!  It's quick and free to sign up, and it matters - right now.

URGENT Action Needed! The Farm Bill is Nearing Final Passage. Call Congress by FRIDAY at NOON.

We need you to take action right away to ensure the gains we've fought so hard for over the past year and half are not lost.

Please call your representative and senators by noon Eastern time Friday, April 25, at 1-800-826-3688.

Tell them we must pass a new farm bill now, and must not lose the nutrition increases and food aid changes already passed.  At a time of sharply rising food prices, these increases are especially critical.  Modest commodity reform could pay for these increases without resorting to tax increases or other cuts.

Read the talking points below.

[Note:  This toll-free number will connect you to the Capitol switchboard, where you will ask to be connected to your representative's office in order to leave your message.  Unsure who your members of Congress are?  Click Here ]

MESSAGE TO CONGRESS:

In this time of rising food prices, your statement of support for nutrition funding in the farm bill is especially critical!  Modest reforms to make commodity programs more equitable could provide funds without risking a presidential veto. Please show your support for finishing the farm bill with the strongest nutrition title to help make great strides against hunger and poverty.

KEY POINTS:

    * Over 35 million Americans--including more that 12 million children--struggle to put food on the table.

    * With skyrocketing food prices, food stamp households need assistance now more than ever.

    * Failure to pass a new farm bill or extension of the current bill would mean that millions of low-income people will miss out on food stamp benefit increases on offer under the current conference proposals.

    * Modest reform of commodity programs could produce savings to redirect to low-income families through the food stamp program.

    * The Congress will miss a huge opportunity if they pass this Farm Bill without addressing the inefficiencies of our current food aid program. The local and regional purchase pilot program passed by the Senate should be retained in the final bill.

CALLS NEED TO BE COMPLETED BY:  12 noon (EST), April 25.

More background info is in the comment section.  If you called, let us know how it went and encourage others to do the same in the comments!

How to Lose a Trip to D.C. in 10 Days

Quick answer: By not applying to be a Hunger Justice Leader!

 

Longer-ish answer: Good morning, gentle readers.  This is your friendly reminder that coming up in a week and a half (***MARCH 15***), the deadline - for applying to come to Washington, DC this summer for an exciting, expenses paid gathering and training - will come and go.  And we don't want you to miss it! 

If you're between the ages of 18 and 35, this will be a great opportunity, if selected, to deepen and enhance your commitment to activism and hunger issues, all while connecting, engaging and worshiping with your peers and premier experts on said issues and policies and such.

And while 10 days is a good amount of time, the application does need a personal statement and a recommendation, so start to... APPLY TODAY!

(P.S. Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey not included.)

Need Offering of Letters-to-Editors!

President and Laura Bush are in Africa this week highlighting successful U.S. aid projects.  An Associated Press story quoted Mr. Bush, from Tanzania's Meru District Hospital, proclaiming: "The power to save lives comes with the moral obligation to use it."

The media coverage of the trip provides a perfect ‘hook’ for letters to editors, and the timing is ideal for the Offering of Letters campaign.

If you have never submitted a letter to a newspaper, try it now!  Make it a Lenten project.  Click here for tips.

Recruit a flock of friends to write, too.  Several of my friends are willing to submit letters if I ask them directly, one to one.  I explain what the ‘ask’ is ($5 billion for poverty-focused development aid and Senate passage of the Global Poverty Act, S. 2433), why the issue is important, why the timing is critical, what the local angle is, and I provide background material.  I just submitted a letter to my state paper, the Des Moines Register, and persuaded three friends to submit letters to our city paper, the Cedar Rapids Gazette; we don’t know the results yet.

These friends are members of the United Nations Association, so they already support the MDGs.  Letters are needed now while the press is focused on successes in Africa, and because the Congressional budget process is ramping up.  One of our senators (Chuck Grassley) is on the Budget Committee and the other (Tom Harkin) is on Foreign Operations Appropriations, so we have a local connection.  I mentioned that if members of Congress are named in published letters, their staff is likely to ensure the member sees it.

I tried to cut out all the extra steps for my friends to make it as convenient as possible for them to write and submit their letter.  I provided the newspaper’s email address for letters, the maximum word count, and the requirement for including the writer’s name, address, and daytime phone number.

I provided my friends with some background info to help them get started:
1) A link to our local newspaper’s coverage of Pres. Bush’s trip that they can reference or respond to when writing their letter.
2) Bread for the World’s 2008 Offering of Letters Campaign page: ‘What We Want to Achieve in 2008’
3) A background paper on the Millennium Challenge Account, because Pres. Bush was signing an MCA grant in Tanzania.

I’m hoping to see your letters posted soon on Bread for the World’s press page!

Ellen Fisher
Cedar Rapids, Iowa

"I want to be part of the problem"

Good morning!

We first posted about applying to be a Hunger Justice Leader a month ago or so, but today we have a special added bonus in case you were on the fence about whether to apply or just hadn't gotten around to it yet -

Check out this link or watch the embedded goodness below today and then make sure you post it to your Facebook profile, share the link with all of your friends, etc!  They're bound to at least be intrigued - and maybe they'll "wanna be part of the solution"...

Bread - A Cinematic Sensation

And a Happy Monday to you.  Here for your viewing pleasure is Bread's 2008 Offering of Letters video in the magic of Youtubery - sure to be shown at a Bread workshop near you this spring and also something that comes in the magic of DVD when you order/buy your own 'Offering of Letters' toolkit to use back at your church, campus, local advocacy group, etc.  We like it, enjoy -

Also, must give a shout-out to Jeremy, an activist from Weatherford, TX (just outside Fort Worth), for heeding Shawda's call (from the post below) and writing up and having published this letter to the editor yesterday in the Weatherford Democrat: Help the Hungry (It's the fourth or fifth one down).  Way to make "our region" proud!  The gauntlet has been thrown down from Texas --- who will get one published next?!