Practicing Infectious Activism

Suzanne Berman was Bread for the World's Faith Outreach Organizer for the ONE Campaign, based in Atlanta, from 2005-2006. Here is her first-person account of organizing for ONE.

Often, when I give a presentation, I quite literally preach to the choir. I must say, there is something gratifying and even comforting about that process. 

Suzanne Berman (seated) and other activists build the movement against hunger and poverty ONE person at a time.  Photo by Calvin Pollard

But to me, the essence of Bread for the World is in those other moments.  Those moments when I look out into the audience, and I see someone "get it" for the first time.  I don't know if it's realization or compassion or faith, but when someone begins to believe in our work, you can literally see it in his/her eyes.

In an instant, global poverty becomes real, and international development becomes possible.  And when that energy is shared in a room, you can feel it.  I like to think of it as infectious activism. 

I've seen that moment in a Southern Baptist in North Carolina, who shed a tear for a child that I met in Tanzania.  I've see it in the eyes of Meghan Blanton, who came bounding up to me after Lobby Day because Rep. Spencer Bachus signed onto Hunger Free Communities when she was in his office. 

I had no idea that this visible transformation existed before I came to Bread for the World.  And everyday, I am amazed that this conversion can derive neither from a rock star nor a political powerhouse, but from me, a five-foot tall girl from Virginia who has the audacity to believe that we can make poverty history.

However, unlike the rock stars of the world, not only do we have the honor of sharing that moment with our activists, but we also have the privilege of helping them cultivate their newfound passion.

Because of Bread for the World, Jennifer Hitt has applied to the Peace Corps.  Because of Bread for the World, four local papers published Mike Batell's article on the inattention to poor people in the president's State of the Union address. 

Bread for the World and ONE have taught me that these relationships are the greatest fringe benefit of our work.