Thankful for you on Thanksgiving
By Rev. David Beckmann
In an overwhelming year, your steadfast commitment to put your faith in action is cause for thanks.
We are grateful you responded at key times with calls and emails to your members of Congress, twice preventing harmful healthcare bills from passing. Thousands of handwritten letters are helping influence decisions on a final spending bill. Visits with your lawmakers have reinforced the message that people of faith demand economic security for all people, especially those struggling to put food on the table.
So far this year, your advocacy efforts have helped push back against proposals that would cut billions in anti-hunger and anti-poverty programs. In fact, you helped build the political will that secured $1.1 billion in additional famine relief funding.
Our work is unfinished. From now until the end of the year, our government will make choices regarding how it generates revenue and spends shared resources. On a day that reminds us abundance is best shared, let us recommit ourselves to the persistent and faithful advocacy that gets results.
On behalf of everyone at Bread for the World, thank you for all you do to end hunger. Happy Thanksgiving.
Rev. David Beckmann is president of Bread for the World.
On a day that reminds us abundance is best shared, let us recommit ourselves to the persistent and faithful advocacy that gets results.
Tools
from our Resource Library
For Education
U.S. Hunger and Poverty State Fact Sheets
These fact sheets provide a snapshot of hunger and poverty in the United States and in each state plus Washington, D.C.
Fact Sheet: Hunger and Poverty in the Indigenous Community
Indigenous communities have some of the highest hunger rates in the United States. As a group, one in four Native Americans and Alaskan Natives are food insecure, defined as not having regular, reliable access to the foods needed for good health.
Fact Sheet: Hunger and Poverty in the African American Community
While hunger declined from 2017 for the general U.S. population, African Americans experienced a one percent increase, an increase of 153,000 African American households. This fact sheet explores the issue in depth.
For Faith
Unity Declaration on Racism and Poverty
A diverse body of Christian leaders calls on the churches and Congress to focus on the integral connection.
Dear Members of Congress,
As the president and Congress are preparing their plans for this year, almost 100 church leaders—from all the families of U.S. Christianity—are...
In Times Like These … A Pan-African Christian Devotional for Public Policy Engagement
This devotional guide invites deepened relationship with and among Pan-African people and elected leaders in the mission to end hunger and poverty.
Sermon by David Beckmann at Duke University Chapel
Remarks delivered October 1, 2017 at Duke University Chapel in Chapel Hill in North Carolina.
Thank you for inviting me to preach here at Duke University Chapel. And I especially want to thank the Bread for the World members who have come this morning.
Bruce Puckett urged...
For Advocacy
Grassroots Advocacy Toolkit
A set of how-to sheets for carrying out advocacy and fact sheets on the current issues Bread for the World is working on.
For new and current Bread grassroots hunger activists.
Ideal as a starter toolkit for new Bread activists or as a set of updates for current activists.
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U.S. Hunger and Poverty State Fact Sheets
These fact sheets provide a snapshot of hunger and poverty in the United States and in each state plus Washington, D.C.
Fact Sheet: Hunger by the Numbers
In 2017, 11.8 percent of households in the U.S.—40 million people—were food-insecure, meaning that they were unsure at some point during the year about how they would provide for their next meal.