Get Involved

Important Hunger Legislation Introduced in House and Senate

Thanks be to God!

This year's polarized political environment has made it extremely difficult to get bipartisan anti-hunger legislation introduced. All year long, Bread for the World members have been praying and working tirelessly, trying to move a mountain. Within the span of 24 hours, that mountain budged a little bit, allowing for important work to be done on behalf of hungry people.

The Hunger-Free Communities Act, the bipartisan legislation supported by Bread for the World's 2005 Offering of Letters campaign, was introduced in the Senate on May 25. The very next day, May 26, it was introduced in the House. A resolution on the Millennium Development Goals was also introduced in the House on May 26. The MDG bill comes just in time for the important G-8 summit in July, where global poverty, especially in Africa, will be on the agenda.

The Hunger-Free Communities Act would commit the United States to the goals of cutting U.S. food insecurity and hunger in half by 2010 and ending U.S. hunger by 2015, and require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to report annually on progress toward those goals. It includes sense of Congress language protecting the structure and funding for the national nutrition programs. It authorizes $50 million for a grant program that would fund grassroots groups who collaborate to develop innovative strategies to end hunger, provide direct assistance and strengthen public programs. It also authorizes collection of hunger data at the county level.

Lead sponsors of the bills - Sens. Richard Durbin (D-IL), Gordon Smith (R-OR), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Richard Lugar (R-IN), and Reps. Tom Osborne (R-NE) and Jim McGovern (D-MA), are all members of the new Senate Hunger Caucus and House Hunger Caucus.

The Millennium Development Goals Resolution calls on the president to take advantage of this year's G-8 and UN summits to forge international policies that will accelerate progress against global hunger, poverty and disease.

This is an exceptional moment and an extraordinary opportunity. Now we must build the political support for these long-awaited bills. Soon after the bills' introductions, hundreds of hunger activists converged on Capitol Hill for Bread for the World's Lobby Day. But in order for these bills to pass Congress, legislators must continue to hear that their constituents are concerned about hungry people and want to see this legislation become law.

Jesus said, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:10) Bread for the World members have great faith, and mountains can move. Hunger will end. Let it be so.

back to top

Protect Programs Which Fight Hunger and Poverty

Bread for the World's 2005 Offering of Letters, Make Hunger History, seeks to revitalize our national commitment to ending hunger in the United States. Hunger is on the rise in this country, with more than 36 million people living in households that struggle to put food on the table. Yet it is well within the United States' capabilities to make sure that no person in this country goes hungry.

This summer, our Offering of Letters work will have two main components. We continue to build support for the Hunger Free Communities Act of 2005, the legislation for Make Hunger History.

The second avenue of work on Make Hunger History is the budgetary decision-making process. Each senator and representative plays an important role in shaping our nation's priorities and finalizing a budget for 2006. National nutrition programs such as food stamps and school meals are the fastest, most direct way to prevent hunger, so the Make Hunger History campaign calls on Congress to ensure that these programs are adequately funded.

In April, Congress narrowly adopted a budget resolution that awards additional tax cuts at the expense of essential services for low-income people. The budget resolution requires Congress to cut $35 billion over five years from mandatory programs, like Medicaid and food stamps, to help pay for $70 billion in tax cuts, most of which benefit people making more than $1 million a year. Further, the budget significantly increases the budget deficit.

Three billion dollars of the cuts are targeted at agriculture programs, which include farm subsidies, conservation and food stamps. The Food Stamp Program appears particularly vulnerable because many members of Congress oppose cuts to farm subsidies. The president recommends cutting $600 million over five years from food stamps by pushing 300,000 low-income women and their children who recently moved from welfare to work out of the program. Leaders in the House and Senate are threatening even greater cuts.

Children of low-wage workers may be forced out of the Food Stamp Program under proposed budget cuts. Photo by Margaret W. Nea

Sen. Herbert Kohl (D-WI), ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, warned that removing low-income workers from the Food Stamp Program will also end their children's automatic eligibility for free school lunches. Kohl told Undersecretary of Agriculture for Food and Nutrition Services Eric Bost that he did not understand how the administration would meet its goals of reducing Americans’ food insecurity by making it harder for low-income Americans to get food stamps and school lunches.

People of faith and conscience can help Make Hunger History by encouraging members of Congress to support the Hunger Free Communities Act of 2005 and to oppose proposed cuts to national nutrition programs that would harm hungry and poor people. Thank you for your hard work!

back to top

"Lord, Teach Us to Pray"

By Art Simon

The disciples of Jesus sensed their poverty in prayer. Seeing Jesus pray led one of them to ask, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." (Luke 11:1) They sought help, I believe, because they wanted a deeper relationship with God.

Their request, however, went far beyond that. In the Israel of Jesus's day each devout religious group would receive from its leader a special prayer (as the reference to John the Baptizer illustrates). That prayer gave the group a unique identity, reflected its mission, and bonded its members to the leader and to one another. The disciples of Jesus wanted that.

Jesus wanted it too, but he waited until they asked. And they asked because they saw what he was doing. Jesus did not give his disciples a model prayer so much as he was the model. The prayer bound them to him and included them in his unfolding mission. The Lord's Prayer still serves that purpose for us today, and all of Jesus's guidance regarding prayer should be understood in this light.

He encouraged his disciples to persist in prayer. Don't give up, he said, but keep on asking for what you need, because the Father delights in our coming and wants to give the best of gifts to those who ask (see Luke 11:5-13).

He urged them to avoid pretense. People who try to impress others when they pray, he said, are good actors, but terrible examples. So do not pray to be noticed, but pray in private where only God can see you and reward you (see Matthew 6:5-6).

Don't try to impress God, either, he advised. Babbling on and on in prayer, he said, is a waste of time, because the Father knows what we need before we ask (Matthew 6:7-8). And do not boast of your accomplishments. Simply offer yourself to God. Lay out your sins honestly, as did the tax collector, and ask God to forgive you. No pretense needed and no pretense allowed, said Jesus. Come just as you are (see Luke 18:10-14).

Art Simon is founder and president emeritus of Bread for the World.This excerpt is taken from Rediscovering the Lord's Prayer which is available from our online store.

back to top

Millennium Challenge Account Update

Raising the incomes of Madagascar's rural people is the focus of the country's new MCA program. Photo by Martin Lueders

Bread for the World members have worked hard to build support for the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) since President Bush announced this new initiative in 2002. We helped to persuade Congress to focus the MCA on reducing poverty in poor countries and to require governments to consult with their people when developing projects. Bread for the World continues to advocate for full funding as promised by the administration.

Once the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) began operating in 2004, its administrators identified 16 countries eligible to apply. These countries began submitting proposals. The first compact, with Madagascar, was signed on April 18, 2005. It provides $110 million in a four-year initiative to raise rural incomes in Madagascar by resolving land tenure problems, providing farmers with technical support through enhanced extension services, and improving access to financial services in rural communities. The MCC has indicated that four more compacts are nearing completion.

Bread for the World remains highly engaged with the MCA as co-chair of the Nongovernmental Working Group on MCA Implementation, a coalition effort respected and often consulted by MCC officials. Recently, the group held a detailed discussion with Ken Hackett of Catholic Relief Services and Christine Todd Whitman (current affiliation), both members of the MCC board, emphasizing the need for easy public access to information on the process of awarding grants, a continued focus on poverty reduction, and the participation of poor people in determining project priorities. Bread for the World President David Beckmann also spoke at the launch of the MCA Monitor, a new initiative of the Center for Global Development.

As the MCA makes more grants and projects get underway in Madagascar and other participating countries, Bread for the World will work to ensure that the MCA receives sufficient funding and that the funds help hungry and poor people improve their lives.

back to top

At Bethel University, Many Take ONE Step Against Hunger

This spring at Bethel University in St. Paul, MN, the student group World Challenge organized activities that persuaded 1,100 people to join the ONE Campaign. World Challenge, led by Bethel senior Keith "Kenny" Miller, presented the campaign and its goals widely on campus – at concerts, in coffeehouses, at chapel and Vespers services. Miller was supported in his efforts by Bread for the World’s ONE Fellow for the Upper Midwest, Liz VerHage.

Miller's own commitment to fight hunger and disease was strengthened by spending three months in Mozambique. "I already had some experience with poverty in the United States, but I saw a different kind of poverty when I visited AIDS clinics there and hung out at an orphanage with kids touched by the disease," he said. "AIDS started affecting me, because I was friends with people who were affected by this issue on a daily basis.

"A lot of people at Bethel care about those who are hungry and poor, but they just don't know what to do about it. The ONE Campaign was an easy way for people to begin to get involved," Miller continued.

Fellow World Challenge member Nicole Uhre added, "Our relationship with God is about this. To walk justly with the Lord is to care for the poor and the widow. This was a tangible way to do something about that."

World Challenge continued its ONE Campaign work with a campus AIDS awareness week; some of the activities raised money for an orphanage in Kenya serving children whose parents have died of AIDS. Matt Runion, Bethel's assistant campus pastor for missions and World Challenge's advisor, said, "I also hope that each one of our ONE Campaign signers at Bethel will now take steps beyond their signature and be an advocate for the poor with their legislators, their pastors, their foreign policymakers, and their President."

Thank you to Bethel University students for their hard work on behalf of hungry and poor people!

back to top