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An Article for Your Church's Newsletter
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." "Penny wise, pound foolish." "A stitch in time saves nine." Plenty of old sayings advise us to take care of problems while they are still manageable, but it's all too easy to put things off instead. Something else comes up that seems more important. Or maybe, we think, the situation isn't really going to get worse. Maybe it will just go away.
Famine is sometimes called a "slow-onset emergency." We know the warning signs – droughts or armed conflict, followed by steep increases in local food prices, more children showing signs of malnutrition, people selling livestock for less than its value, and the list goes on. Hunger "crises" don't just arise overnight and show up on the news. If we pay attention to the signals, national and international efforts can make a big difference by responding promptly with effective emergency measures.
In Ethiopia this fall, approximately three million people are at risk of famine following a cycle of droughts and floods. The suffering is compounded by inadequate public health services and escalating staple food prices. So far, relief efforts have been unable to reach the neediest people effectively. In Zimbabwe, poor infrastructure has made it difficult to transport surplus corn to areas in need. The U.N. World Food Program had planned to provide food assistance to 900,000 Zimbabweans this October, but has had to scale down to 330,000 people due to a funding shortfall.
Yet lives and livelihoods can be saved in even the most desperate situations. At times, each day's news about Darfur, Sudan, seems worse than the last. But a United Nations assessment found that thanks to a stronger international response, malnutrition levels have mostly stabilized in 2006 and food insecurity has actually improved slightly.
Most of the world's 852 million hungry people suffer from chronic malnutrition caused by poverty. This means that they are vulnerable to crisis – whether drought such as in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, violence such as in western Sudan, or another natural or man-made disaster. Bread for the World works to address the root causes of hunger -- the kind of poverty which means that Zimbabwe doesn't have enough vehicles to transport surplus food to famine areas and Ethiopia doesn't have basic health facilities to treat children's hunger-related diseases.
It’s clear that hungry people need more emergency assistance – after all, more than half a million Zimbabweans are now going without relief supplies due to funding shortfalls. But it’s also clear that they need long-term poverty solutions. There may always be natural disasters, but the “ounces of prevention” that reduce people’s vulnerability can avert much of the suffering and death that now accompany them. The U.S. Congress can help by increasing the amount of poverty-focused development assistance available for preventive measures.
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Let us pray for the 852 million hungry people around the world, including people facing hunger emergencies in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Sudan and other countries. Let us also pray for our nation’s leaders as they make decisions that affect hungry and poor people.
Facts: Acute Hunger
- Worldwide, roughly 6 to 8 percent of hungry people are victims of natural disasters, civil strife, and other "extreme events." In 2005, the U.N. World Food Program provided emergency nutrition services to 73 million people worldwide, many of them children.
- War is an important contributor to famine. Conflict triggered 6 of the 7 major African famines since 1980. Most deaths from famine have occurred when governments or rebels have prevented the delivery of food aid.
- Although famine is characterized by widespread and acute hunger, the main cause of famine deaths is disease. When people already weakened from lack of food end up in relief camps, for example, overcrowding and poor sanitation are a breeding ground for deadly diseases.
- According to U.N. World Food Program officials, the HIV/AIDS pandemic is "changing the nature of famine" in Africa by cutting agricultural productivity, sapping the population and undermining people's ability to recover from natural and man-made disasters.
- Support for agriculture is vital to preventing famine, yet during the 1990s, development assistance for African agriculture fell from an average of $4 billion per year to $2.6 billion. In the long run, investing in agricultural productivity is a lot less expensive than providing emergency food aid.
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Profile: “Works of Justice and Mercy”: St. Michael’s Catholic Community
"Christian service goes forward on the two feet" of works of justice and works of mercy, says Vernie Dale, Christian Service coordinator of St. Michael's Catholic Community in Sterling Heights, MI. The community responds to human needs in the name of Christ through action for change (works of justice) and direct service (works of mercy).
Bread for the World is an integral part of St. Michael's works of justice. A Bread for the World Covenant church since 1985, St. Michael's has held an Offering of Letters every May since 1988. Over those 18 years, they have sent about 11,000 letters to Congress!
As Ms. Dale puts it, hunger and poverty are "moral issues, and the church has to speak out on them." As a Covenant Church, a faithful contributor, and an advocate through its Offerings of Letters, St. Michael's is inspired to seek justice for hungry people by responding to the root causes of hunger and poverty.
How does St. Michael's generate so many letters? A long-time BFW supporter, Vernie Dale draws on her experience of nearly 20 years as Christian Service coordinator to prepare the congregation for each Offering of Letters. For several weeks, she prepares articles on hunger for the church newsletter, using information from Bread for the World's OL kit. The week before the OL, Ms. Dale holds a question and answer session about this year's campaign. The Offering of Letters takes place during the social hour after church; advocates offer sample letters and encourage people to prepare handwritten letters. There is a mailbox for each senator and representative so that people can deposit their letters. The church looks for other ways to engage members in the OL campaign. Last year, young people performed a skit during the service about getting Congress to pay attention to the needs of hungry people.
In response to the call to do works of mercy, St. Michael's provides services for poor people and others in need in their community. For example, the church participates in the Macomb County Rotating Emergency Shelter Team, which shelters the community's homeless people. St. Michael's hosts their homeless guests the week before Christmas. Hundreds of volunteers are involved in this effort: sharing meals, housing guests in the church, talking with them, and providing toiletries, bus tickets and other emergency items. Since many guests are children, the community hosts a Christmas party complete with gifts and a visit from Santa.
Thank you to the members of St. Michael’s Catholic Community for all their faithful work on behalf of hungry and poor people!
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Urge your members of Congress to meet its promise to developing countries and approve a significant increase in poverty-focused development assistance this year.
An effective letter has three essential ingredients:
- Be Specific
In 2005, the United States promised to double assistance to developing countries by 2010. When Congress returns to Washington after the November elections, finalizing increases in foreign assistance spending for 2007 must be an urgent priority.
- Name the Action
Urge your members of Congress to do everything in their power to ensure that poverty-focused development assistance levels are finalized, and include at a minimum the $2 billion increase requested by the president.
-
Give a Reason
Millions of hungry and poor people around the world could benefit from the increased development assistance that the United States has promised.
Sample Letter:
Dear Sen. _________ or Rep. _________,
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 in poverty-focused development assistance this year.
Increases have been requested by the president and approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate Appropriations Committee. Congress should act now to approve the additional $2 billion in the president’s request.
Millions of hungry and poor people around the world could benefit from the increased development assistance that the United States has promised. Please do everything in your power to help them.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Your Address
Send your letter to:
Sen. _____________
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Rep. _____________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
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Bread for the World Institute's 2007 Hunger Report, Healthy Food, Farms and Families, will be available on our Web site the week of Thanksgiving. This is the Institute's 17th annual book-length report on hunger causes and solutions. The print version will be published in January.
Anti-hunger groups are now mobilizing to make improvements in the U.S. farm bill when it comes up for reauthorization in 2007. As the new Hunger Report explains, few other pieces of legislation give policymakers such an opportunity to significantly reduce hunger in the United States and around the globe. The farm bill is about much more than farming – it shapes nutrition programs, farm subsidies, trade, rural development, conservation, energy and other key policies.
Healthy Food, Farms and Families looks at the farm bill through the lens of hunger. No one wants to increase hunger, but sometimes our federal policies do so inadvertently because of conflicting priorities. If it turns out that policies are contributing to hunger, the moral imperative should be to reform them. Policymakers must develop solutions that help struggling U.S. farmers, strengthen rural communities, provide an adequate, nutritious diet for hungry people in this country, and support the efforts of small farmers in developing countries to get their products to market and feed their families.
The 2007 Hunger Report offers a set of recommendations to realize this vision. They include offering farmers tools for managing financial risk and support for practicing good environmental stewardship. Savings from limits on trade-distorting farm programs should be redirected to strengthening rural communities and ending hunger. The United States should lead the way in pushing for a swift and successful conclusion to the Doha round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations. The report also looks closely at nutrition programs in the farm bill and offers recommendations to ensure that participants have access to healthy foods.
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Bread for the World will offer Lenten resources for 2007, including “table tents” and bulletin inserts that feature readings and prayers to help your congregation focus on hunger and poverty as you observe Lent. The resources will also include suggested actions for each of the six weeks tied to Bread for the World’s Offering of Letters, the ONE Campaign, and other opportunities to make a difference.
Look for information about these free resources on our Web site, www.bread.org, after Christmas, or call 800-82-BREAD.
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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
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
- Matt Newell-Ching (1-888-75-BREAD)
Western 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
