Bread Blog

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.

Clap Your Hands Say YEAH!

Last week, many of you probably received action alerts from us and/or the ONE Campaign asking you to call your senators (If you don't get the alerts, sign up here!).  The ask was to urge them to save vital foreign assistance funding that was in danger of being dramatically cut and in case you didn't hear already, the results of your calls and the Senate vote are in and I'm here to report:

Very, Very Good News!

Early Friday morning of last week, the Senate decided overwhelmingly to restore the $4.1 Billion shortfall in the International Affairs Budget - which recommends funding levels for federal programs including effective anti-poverty efforts. The "Biden-Lugar Amendment" (S. Amdt 4245) passed 73-23 with overwhelming bipartisan support! (See how your senators voted here)

So here's what happened... Earlier last week, we asked you to called to support the Feinstein (D-CA) - Smith (R-OR) amendment to restore $2.6 billion to the International Affairs function of the FY09 budget resolution. Shortly after calls started to flood in (there were nearly a thousand calls from Bread supporters alone), we learned that Senators Biden (D-DE) and Lugar (R-IN) had decided to do even better and sponsor an amendment that brought the International Affairs back to the level of the president's request of $39.8 billion - a $4.1 Billion increase. So we turned our attention to the Biden-Lugar amendment which contained this bigger increase--and that amendment passed.

Bottom line: we couldn't have done this without you. This victory signals the power of grassroots demands for building a more just world. Moreover, this is an important first step in Bread for the World's campaign to increase poverty-focused development assistance by $5 billion next year.

Yet our work is not done. The budget resolution is just a spending blueprint and does not dictate the details of how this money should be spent. However the budget does send an important signal to appropriators who will be making these final decisions, and last Friday's vote shows the broad support these programs have.

Let's build on this momentum. Can you write a letter to the editor? Over the next few days, your local papers may run stories about the federal budget. We need to make sure the story focuses on what the budget resolution could mean for reducing poverty and giving hope to millions of our brothers and sisters around the world.

We also want to thank the senators that voted in favor of the amendment, and call those into account who did not. We have sample talking points if you need help getting started (see the 'comment' under this post), but your letter is always more likely to get published if it is original and comes from the heart. Please consider writing one, and if you have any questions, you can e-mail or call Shawnda Hines, Grassroots Media Associate at Bread, at shines@bread.org or at 888-752-7323 x2.

Thank you again for your passion for working to end hunger in our time.

Walk the Walk

The leaves are turning and the air is beginning to feel cool and crisp.  This could only mean that the annual CROP Walk is around the corner in many communities across our great land.

The walks, sponsored by Church World Service, are a fun multi-generational activity, offering the opportunity for churches, congregations or civic organizations to get their members involved in raising funds for CWS's local and international anti-hunger and disaster-relief programs. Here in New Mexico, we have five CROP Walks scheduled in October and three in November (plus one that was held in April and another whose date is to be determined).  Our neighbors up north in Colorado have 23 CROP Walks scheduled.

But far too often we think of Church World Service in terms of its CROP Walks and its charitable activities and not enough of its great educational programs.                                                             

Did you know that CWS is one of dozens of organizations that are partners in The ONE Campaign?   

As part of its commitment to ONE, CWS has created a great resource called  Making Poverty History.   You can order the resource online or download a .pdf version 

A global chorus of voices is calling to make poverty history. We have the resources, we have the knowledge, but do we have the will? The activities collected here are meant to help build that will by providing a glimpse into the lives and struggles of impoverished people around the world. The simulations, skits, and other elements can be used as a part of CROP Hunger Walks, Tools & Blankets events, overnight events or retreats, mission fairs, church camps, and other learning events on hunger and poverty. 
  -From CWS Making Poverty History

This resource offers a great opportunity to add another level of meaning to your walk.  For our Colorado-New Mexico two-state area, this means 33 opportunities!
(Above photo by Paul Jeffrey/ACT-CWS)  

MDG Yeah You Know Me

...but do you know them? 

This year, Bread for the World and other organizations like the Millennium Campaign took stock of where we are as a country and world in achieving the MDGs (the Millennium Development Goals).  The reason this year was especially important is because we are now halfway to where we should be in meeting the goals that were set in 2000 if millions are to be liberated from extreme poverty, chronic hunger and more by 2015.

To read the UN report and a good summary of how we (the U.S. and 188 other member nations of the UN) are doing as we pass halfway point, read this fantastic article that simply and effectively breaks down each of the 8 goals and where and how progress has been made around the world.

Topping it all off, keep an eye out in the coming months for the rolling out of Bread for the World's 2008 Offering of Letters Campaign, where we will push our elected leaders to fund poverty focused development assistance programs in the U.S. budget at high-enough levels that we can do our part as a country in realizing these vital goals.  You can even write them a letter today to start encouraging them to think about these priorities now!

One last concrete way to get the ball rolling on MDG awareness - STAND UP!  Click on that link to learn how you and those in your church or school can join millions around the world in standing up in unity against poverty!

St. Francis of Assisi and the ONE Vote 08 Campaign

By Elaine VanCleave and Carlos Navarro

"Preach the Gospel every day, and if necessary use words,"  Sen. Tom Daschle told participants packed into St. Mark's Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill, at the launch of the ONE Vote 08 rally in the nation's capital on a pleasant afternoon in June. 

In case you didn't recognize that statement, it came from one of the most quotable personalities in history, St. Francis of Assisi.

And it's true that politicians and other public figures are fond of quoting St. Francis.  But Sen. Daschle's decision to bring the venerable saint into this event is much appreciated.  Many of us often get caught in the "mechanics" of social justice and forget that our motivation is to do the work in the light of the Gospel.

There is another saying from St. Francis that applies in this case: "It is no use walking to preach unless our walking is our preaching." 

Which brings us to the rally itself.  It has been almost three months since ONE launched the ONE Vote 08 campaign with the purpose of ensuring that all the candidates (whether Democrat, Republican or independent) make global health and extreme poverty foreign policy priorities of their campaigns in the 2008 presidential election. And thanks to ONE activists around the country, almost everywhere a candidate has spoken during the past few weeks, he or she has had to discuss how to address the problem of global poverty (See ONE blog).

We intended to write this blog post several weeks ago but time got away from us.

Anyway, we think it is still very timely to share fond memories of the rally.  After all, we played hooky from the Bread for the World National Gathering just so we could go to this event.

On that day, St. Mark's was bursting at the seams, not only with people but with a level of energy that we can only describe as "electric hope." And why not? Several key high-level operatives from both the Democratic and Republican parties were present, not only to endore the goals of ONE Vote 08 but to lead the effort in making global poverty and disease a key topic of discussion during the presidential campaigns.

There were other celebrities and very important people at the rally, including the actress Connie Britton, who once starred in the TV sitcom Spin City, and more recently as the mom in the drama Friday Night Lights.

Ms Britton reminded us, in this time of fierce partisan politics, that ending hunger and poverty are American values that unify us all.  She described ONE Vote as "an opportunity to deepen the unifying process of our elections."  She said, as Americans, "in whatever party, we can unite with each other and with people around the world in our dedication to a world without hunger, without poverty, without these treatable and preventable diseases, and without suffering.  These are American values that can truly make us proud as voters."

Pastor Brian McLaren's remarks were especially moving, particularly his comments about the transforming experience of meeting face to face the people whom we help.  He said, "Something happens when you actually encounter people and they stop being a statistic and start being a neighbor."  Wow! How often do we quote grim statistics when speaking about ONE? The figures are staggering, can be quite overwhelming, and sometimes, even paralyzing. 

But, in that very room, just moments before Pastor McLaren (pictured at left) spoke, the African Children's Choir had performed. This spirited group of children are all orphans from Central Africa, children who represent the statistics.  When the pastor spoke, we thought of these children, who are indeed our neighbors, as the reason why we will follow his lead and ask our presidential candidates "again and again.  What are you going to do for our neighbors?"

That’s what The ONE Campaign is all about: to move our society to take common responsibility for solving the problems of global poverty and disease. St. Francis said it so eloquently: Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.   

[Note: The picture of the statue of St. Francis was taken outside the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Rancho de Taos, N.M.)

Elaine Goes to a ONE-Themed Birthday Party

There are all kinds of celebrations of life. Weddings. Wedding Showers. Bachelor Parties. Graduation Parties. Baby Showers. Birthday parties. Quinceañeras.  You name it.

Imagine using these festive occasions to commemorate The ONE Campaign! 

Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger offers a great example.  The organization developed a program to encourage young people to combine the joyous occasion of their bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah with an action to create awareness about hunger and poverty.  "Taken together, these two things (the tragedy of hunger and the happiness  of a bar/bat mitzvah) represent the joy and sorrow of life. Both deserve your family's attention," says Mazon.   

And one couple in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., who is very committed to The ONE Campaign used the occasion of their nuptials this past July to hold a ONE-themed wedding.

This brings us to the ONE-themed birthday party that was held in Birmingham, Ala., this summer, in which our good friend Elaine VanCleave was privileged to have participated.  You Know Elaine. She's blogged here before and will blog here again.

It is quite evident that Elaine encountered a raucous crowd at this event,.  Just look at this picture!   [What ever are they doing?  Using a ONE band as a garter?]   

Read Elaine's account on the ONE blog about how this party came about.   

So the next time you have a celebration of life, perhaps you might consider a ONE-themed party of some kind.  Who says you can't have a great time while bringing attention to our  efforts to end global poverty and disease and to support the Millennium Development Goals?

Engaging a candidate on behalf of ONE

Megan Marsh and Andrea Bateman, Bread for the World members and ONE volunteers from Colorado Springs, traveled to the beautiful mountain resort of Aspen on August 9 to attend a speech by presidential candidate John Edwards. Below is Megan's account, along with some pictures and captions.

By Megan Marsh

Andrea and I drove all the way up to Aspen to hear former senator John Edwards address an audience at the Aspen Institute. We arrived early and got to sit in the second row.

Afterwards, Mr. Edwards told us that he liked our shirts and has lots to say about what ONE is vocal about. He claimed to be the ONE campaign's biggest supporter out of all the candidates...

I think that remains to be seen, but thanks for the photo op, senator!!

He mainly spoke about domestic issues such as universal health care and eliminating tax breaks for the extremely rich. He did speak a little bit about trade and how we need to look at who it is benefiting - the multinational corporations at the expense of the middle and working class American.

I tried to ask him how he would make trade more fair for those who live in the developing world.

This was after his speech and his staffers were trying to get him out of there. He said he didn't have enough time to share everything he has to say about that, but that he does have a lot to say, and he said he is a big supporter of the ONE campaign.

"You'll notice in the first picture he's wearing a coat and tie...he quickly looked around the room and saw he was the only one in the room wearing one...you're in Colorado, senator! Lose the tie!

"That does feel better," he said after removing it."

Read what the local media had to say about Sen. Edwards' speech:
The Aspen Times
The Aspen Daily News

Foreign Aid Polling

From the ONE blog today...

Last month, ONE enlisted the help of Peter D. Hart Research Associates and McLaughlin and Associates to conduct a bipartisan survey of likely Democratic and Republican New Hampshire primary voters. Here are some of the highlights:

*Nearly all Democrats (97%) and 70% of Republicans agree that America’s standing has suffered in recent years. In addition to a strong military, Democrats (91%) and Republicans (78%) agree that the United States also needs to improve diplomatic relations by doing more to help improve health, education and opportunities in the poorest countries around the world. Both Democrats (81%) and Republicans alike (70%) agree that reducing poverty, treating preventable diseases and improving education in poor countries around the world will help make the world safer and the United States more secure.

*Democrats and Republicans agree that America has a moral obligation as a compassionate nation to help the world’s poorest people through foreign assistance. More than nine in ten Democrats (93%) and 84% of Republicans agree that when millions of children around the world are dying from preventable diseases and hunger, we have a moral obligation to do what we can to help. Similarly, Democrats (90%) and Republicans (85%) agree that it is in keeping with the country’s values and our history of compassion to lead an effort to solve some of the most serious problems facing the world’s poorest people.

*When it comes to addressing these issues, Democrats (86%) and Republicans (67%) agree that it is important for Presidential candidates to discuss their plans for addressing global hunger and poverty issues in this campaign. Additionally, eight in ten Democrats (81%) and Republicans (80%) agree that the next president should keep the commitments made by President Bush to prevent and fight the spread of AIDS in Africa.

How Big Are Your Sneakers?

Have you ever wondered what is the largest size of shoe on Earth?  According to "29 Poster Series," it's  Size 29. Imagine what size of footprint  the person who owns that foot would leave!   

Now let's put that foot in the context of the Millennium Development Goals and in particular, the Seventh Goal of attaining Environmental Sustainability.   And let's pretend that the western industrialized nations are the ones with the humongous foot.   

And then we must ask ourselves the question: "What kind of ecological footprint are we leaving?"

Then we are forced to admit that our consumption habits (or dare I say overconsumption habits) of natural resources and energy have contributed to the devastation of Mother Earth. There are many practical personal steps we can take to contribute to making our global human habitat more sustainable. Do I drive to work every day or can I take public transport or ride a bike? Have I installed energy-saving light bulbs at home? Do I buy only the produce that is grown locally? Or do I make it even more local by growing my own fruits and vegetables? Am I aware that buying water in plastic containers is very damaging to the environment?

What kind of ecological footprint are you leaving? Take a quiz
After you've taken the quiz, perhaps you might want to take some actions. Dr. Bruce Milne, director of the Sustainability Program at the University of New Mexico, and his assistant Mariel Tribby have created a handy kit to help you move in the direction of greater sustainability. The kit requires that you find a buddy or buddies to help you make sustainable changes in your lifestyle.   Click here to access the kit (in .pdf format).

At a broader level, the government of South Australia has launched a wonderful campaign to measure the ecological impact of those citizens that live within its borders on Earth.  The illustrations at the top are from the campaign flyer.  Click here to download South Australia's Ecological Footprint flyer (.pdf.format)

I recently had the pleasure of spending a few minutes with one of the foremost experts on environmental sustainability and ecospirituality, Sister Paula Gonzalez, a Sister of Charity-Cincinnati.  Sister Paula and I chatted at the Center for Action and Contemplation's Great Chain of Being conference in early August.

Sister Paula is the founder of  EarthConnection,  a center for learning and reflection about living lightly on Earth. The solar-heated and energy efficient office named La Casa del Sol is a revitalized chicken coop. The center has implemented a permaculture demonstration project and 16 raised garden beds that, with the help of volunteers provides fresh, organic vegetables for low-income residents in the area.

Sister Paula proudly wears her white ONE wrist band everywhere she goes, not only as a symbol of the Seventh Millennium Development Goal, but also to draw the connection that all eight Millennium Development Goals are related. The truth is that if we take seriously the concept of sustainability, then we will consume less, which means that resources can be spread out more evenly, eventually making it easier to eradicate hunger and extreme poverty, fight AIDS and other diseases, and attain basic primary education for everyone.

Click here for a slightly different version of this piece

Florida's Biggest-Ever U2Charist

In his wonderful keynote sermon at the 2005 Interfaith Convocation at the National Cathedral in Washington, the Most Rev. Njongonkulu W. H. Ndungane, spoke about how he was called into the ministry by the God of Surprises during his time in prison at Robben Island in South Africa.

Many of us have experienced that God of Surprises in one form or another, sometimes through unexpected results in our work to help alleviate hunger and poverty.   

I'd like to highlight the experience of  Eric Johnson, a ONE activist from Tampa, Fla., who tells us a wonderful story of how a huge U2Charist became one of the highlights of the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in Lakeland, Fla., this summer.   

Rev. Paige Blair, an Episcopal priest, and Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, are avid promoters of the  U2Charist (based on the Episcopal Church's informal Rite III). The service uses music from U2 and calls on people of faith to rally around The Millenium Development Goals.   The U2Charist was the brainchild of Sarah Dylan Breuer.

Eric, one of my Facebook "friends," had already helped plan a very successful U2Charist at Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa, Fla., in October 2006, which drew 600 people.  "My partner in coordinating our first U2Charist, Warren Pattison and I, met several weeks afterwards, in an attitude of dreaming big with no expectation that it would ever happen, we joked about how cool it would be to do a U2Charist worship at the Florida Annual Conference," said Eric.

But the God of Surprises gives us the gift of vision and the gift or perseverance.   

"With an expectation of being turned down, we sent an email with our idea of doing a U2Charist worship service as part of the 2007 Annual Conference to the primary event coordinator," said Eric.  "She had heard about our service in October and thought it was a great idea.  A quick meeting with Bishop (Timothy) Whitaker, and the next thing we knew we were on the schedule!"

Eric had no doubt that he was merely an instrument.  "What an amazing act of God providence, to provide us this tremendous opportunity to share the message of the Millennium Development Goals, ONE.org, and the fight against poverty and AIDS to a huge delegation of clergy and lay leaders from the entire state of Florida," he said.

This fits with Bishop Ndungane's words at the 2005 Interfaith Convocation: "This is God's work, and this is the year that we have an unprecedented opportunity to make a difference," he said, referring to the emergence of The ONE Campaign and other similar worldwide anti-poverty efforts.

God's grace was evident in the actual event.   "Over 1,500 delegates and guests attended the almost two-hour service, almost 300 signatures were added to the ONE petition, and $127,000 was raised to fight hunger and poverty in Africa and at home," said Eric.

Click here to read a wonderful account about the U2Charist at the United Methodist Gathering (courtesy of the Florida United Methodist News Service).

Rev. Paige Blair, who helps promotes U2Charists around the country, was amazed at the amount of money that was raised at this one event.  Said Rev. Blair:  "In one service we more than doubled what we'd raised in the course of two years. WOW!"

More importantly, it looks like U2Charists are going to become commonplace in Florida.  Said Eric: "Only a few days following the Annual Conference, we received several inquiries on details, and word that one of the largest UMC congregations, located in Orlando, was going to plan a U2Charist for this Fall.  Our God is an amazing God..."

(The above painting was created by Kaley Madden of Flagler University.  She put it together especially for the U2Charist held at the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church).