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An Article for Your Church's Newsletter
Often, whether something seems affordable depends on how you look at it. For example, repairing your car may seem expensive, yet a perfectly reasonable alternative to buying a new car.
Another example: ending hunger and disease in God's world. Development experts estimate that $7 billion per year could provide primary education for all the world's children, and an additional $5 billion could prevent most of the 10.6 million deaths every year of children under five.
By comparison, the wealthiest 400 individuals in the United States have a combined income of about $70 billion per year. Our country is spending $5 billion every four days on military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Viewed through these lenses, it seems that our country is well able to afford to help end hunger.
Bread for the World's 2006 Offering of Letters, One Spirit. One Will. Zero Poverty., seeks an increase in U.S. poverty-focused development assistance of $5 billion for FY 2007. This increase would put the country on track to honor the commitment made last year by the president – to double assistance to developing countries by 2010. Development assistance enables poor people to produce and buy more food, get essential medical treatment, send their children to school, and provide their communities with basic infrastructure like housing and safe water.
This spring Bread for the World members helped persuade a record 52 senators to sign a letter to leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee, urging them to make additional funds available in 2007 to fight global hunger and poverty. Our members' ability to engage senators was crucial to this effort. It is heartening that many members of Congress are willing to take a stand, and their support adds significant momentum to efforts to win increases in poverty-focused development assistance.
In the past few years, people in the United States have become more concerned about hunger and poverty. In a bipartisan poll conducted in March 2006 for the Alliance to End Hunger, 78 percent of the 1,000 likely voters surveyed said that it is important for Congress to approve funding for President Bush's proposed increases in aid to developing countries. The number who said that the U.S. government spends too little on world hunger increased from 27 percent in 2003 to 47 percent in 2006.
The needs of hungry people are acute, the president has made commitments, and people in our country are willing to dedicate more resources to reducing hunger. At Bread for the World, we show how concerned people, in their role as constituents, can increase poverty-focused development assistance and take other effective actions against hunger. As people of faith in a democracy, we are able to use our gift of citizenship on behalf of hungry and poor people around the world. When we take a good look at what's needed to fight global poverty, we see that the dollar figures are well within our country's means. It's all in how you look at it.
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Let us pray for the more than 850 million undernourished people in God's world, and for our members of Congress as they consider funding for programs that reduce hunger, poverty and disease.
- More than 850 million people around the world, most in developing countries, do not get enough calories. Widespread hunger persists even though the world's farmers produce enough food for everyone.
- One-third of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is chronically undernourished. Nearly half live on less than $1 a day. In Central Africa, 55 percent of the population is hungry.
- Worldwide, more than half of all child deaths are due to malnutrition. Six million children under age five die of hunger-related causes each year.
- But progress is possible: International support for prenatal care, vaccinations, and health care and nutrition for young children have cut the world's child mortality rate in half over the past 40 years.
- Access to modest resources can make a big difference in the lives of the world's hungry and poor people. For example:
- 15 cents will vaccinate a child against polio to prevent paralysis and death;
- $3 will pay for a mosquito bed net to help prevent malaria;
- $25 will cover the cost of fees and materials for a child to attend a full year of elementary school; and
- $500 will fund training to improve agricultural yields for a farmers' cooperative.
- Unfortunately, these types of programs are under-funded. Currently the United States devotes less than half of one percent of our federal budget to poverty-focused development assistance overseas.
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How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's good and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.
(1 John 3:17-18, NRSV)
How does God's love abide in us? God's love is so complete, so bold, so deep. What does it look like when our lives are in line with that love? The writer makes it clear that God's love cannot abide in those who possess material riches and do not help a brother or sister in need.
The Lenten season offered us a time to focus on Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and our own journeys toward living God's love. Now in the time of Easter, Christ is risen. The resurrected Christ is powerfully present in our world today.
John's letter was written to deepen the spiritual and social awareness of the Christian community. Throughout the Epistle, the references to the cross remind us that God's greatest proclamation of abiding love was not just in word or speech but through action—through Jesus' sacrifice. Likewise, when God's love abides in us we love one another, not just in words, but in action.
How do we imitate God's love in action? Jesus gave us many examples of how to love in this way. Countless times Jesus actually fed, healed and restored people. He acted in love because he cared deeply about the physical health and well-being of those around him.
Our world may seem entirely different from the world of Jesus' time or John's epistle. Yet their "brothers and sisters in need" suffered from the same needs for food, water and shelter that our brothers and sisters do today.
We are living in an unprecedented time to make a concrete difference in the lives of poor people. God has made it possible in our time to end hunger and extreme poverty. In 2000, 189 countries, including the United States, made a promise to do just that around the world with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
If we are to make good on this promise to fulfill the MDGs, Congress must increase poverty-focused development assistance. Keeping this promise is one way that we can practice God’s love for our brothers and sisters around the world.
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Urge your members of Congress to approve a $5 billion increase in poverty-focused development assistance for hungry and poor people around the world.
Ask your senators and representative to approve a $5 billion increase in poverty-focused development assistance for hungry and poor people around the world.
An effective letter has three essential ingredients:
- Be Specific
The United States has adopted the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, which include cutting hunger and extreme poverty in half by 2015 – less than 10 years from now. At last July's G-8 Summit, the United States took a step in the right direction by promising to double aid to Africa and the developing world by 2010.
- Name the Action
To get the nation on track to honor these commitments, Congress should approve a $5 billion increase in poverty-focused development assistance for 2007.
- Give a Reason
The world has enough food for everyone, yet 852 million people are undernourished. The United States should do its share to give hungry and poor people better opportunities to support their families.
Sample Letter:
Dear Sen. _________ or Rep. ________,
I'm writing to express my concern for more than 850 million people worldwide who are undernourished. Sufficient food is produced to feed everyone, yet six million young children die each year from hunger-related causes.
For fiscal year 2007, I urge you and other members of Congress to approve an additional $5 billion in poverty-focused development assistance. In 2005, the United States promised to double assistance to developing countries by 2010. In order to get the country on track to honor this promise, Congress needs to approve a significant increase this year.
Good nutrition, clean water, health care and basic education help parents build a better future for their children. The United States should give more hungry and poor families these opportunities by increasing poverty-focused development assistance.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Your Address
Send your letter to:
Sen. _____________
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
or Rep. ____________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
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"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough" (Matthew 13:33). Pastor Eric Filkin recently preached about Jesus' parable of the yeast at Broadway Covenant Church in Rockford, IL. Prior to the service, Filkin set up six bread makers in the front of the sanctuary. He put them on timers so the smell of fresh-baked bread would begin to permeate the sanctuary just as he began his sermon.
The bread baked during the service was later used for communion.
"It helped illustrate that as Christians we are called to feed hungry people," Filkin said. The pastor also took the opportunity to talk about Bread for the World and our 2006 Offering of Letters campaign, One Spirit. One Will. Zero Poverty. "Even though yeast is really small, it completely changes the dough. The same can be said about the effect of writing a letter. Something very small can still have an enormous impact."
A couple of weeks later, Broadway Covenant Church held an Offering of Letters, writing to Rep. Donald Manzullo (R-IL) about the need for increased poverty-focused development assistance to poor countries. While most members of the congregation later received standard form letter responses from the representative's office, Filkin's first-grade son Teddy received a handwritten letter from Rep. Manzullo. Filkin said that he's not sure of the exact wording of Teddy's letter, but "you could tell Manzullo understood that hunger was something very important to Teddy.” The response is an encouraging reminder that members of Congress do read their mail – not to mention proof that children's activism can be effective even though they're not yet voters. Thank you to Rev. Filkin, Teddy, and the congregation of Broadway Covenant Church for their faithful work on behalf of hungry people!
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The third and final volume of Hunger for the Word: Lectionary Reflections on Food and Justice is now available. The book provides weekly reflections on the lectionary readings for Year C. Drawing on the insights and stories of pastors, professors and others active in anti-hunger advocacy, Hunger for the Word explores the scriptural witness with an openness to seeing how God's Word can nourish us in the struggle to feed hungry people.
The editor of the Hunger for the Word series is Larry Hollar, an ordained Presbyterian elder and senior regional organizer with Bread for the World. Books for Years A, B and C are available in our online store.
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Bread for the World's staff can offer tips on letter writing, brief you on legislation, assist your church's hunger ministry, and put you in touch with others who are working on these issues.
Bread for the World National Office: 1-800-82-BREAD
Church Relations Staff
- Sarah Turner, National Church Outreach
Regional Organizers in National Office
- Elise Young, Central/Mid-Atlantic Organizer
- Erin Luchenbill, Campus Organizer
Bread for the World Regional Offices
- Mariah Priggen (1-800-447-0-BFW)
Illinois, Indiana and Missouri Organizer
- David Gist (1-800-315-3BFW)
California Organizer
- Ricardo Moreno (1-800-315-3BFW)
Organizer for Latino Relations
- Tamela Walhof (1-800-363-7BFW)
Upper Midwest Organizer
- Lew Hille (1-888-257-0-BFW)
Texas/Oklahoma Organizer
- Elizabeth Coleman (1-888-BFW-0073)
Southeast Organizer
- Larry Hollar (1-800-619-9239)
North Central Organizer
- Derrick Boykin (1-866-238-0507)
Northeast Organizer
