Get Involved

Shaping Farm Shaping Farm Policies That Fight Hunger

This year, Bread for the World members are asking Congress to reform the U.S. farm bill in ways that will fight hunger in our country and around the world. As our senators and representatives prepare to set the nation’s farm policies for the next five years, we urge them to look at where current law is ineffective or even inadvertently contributing to hunger – and adopt better policies.

The multifaceted farm bill affects hungry and poor people through policies for the Food Stamp Program, federal payments for farm commodities, rural development and others. Our 2007 Offering of Letters, Seeds of Change: Help Farmers. End Hunger., recommends some much-needed improvements – for example, enabling hungry people in the United States to afford a nutritious diet, strengthening communities in rural America, and supporting the efforts of small-scale farmers in developing countries to sell their crops and feed their families.

Bread for the World Institute's new 2007 Hunger Report, Healthy Food, Farms and Families, provides up-to-date information, examples, and analysis to support the Seeds of Change campaign. The report looks at the true impact of our nation's farm policies on farmers who grow various crops on farms of different sizes, on the majority of rural people who do not farm, on hungry people in the United States, and on low-income subsistence farmers in poor countries. The Hunger Report is available for download or order.

The Hunger Report features a new study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) which finds that U.S. agricultural exports could increase significantly if low- and middle-income countries achieve broad-based economic growth. The study, commissioned by Bread for the World Institute, presents compelling evidence of how much the U.S. farm sector stands to gain from poverty reduction around the world. It confirms what common sense suggests: when hundreds of millions of people living on $1-$2 per day see their incomes rise to $5-$10 per day, they will buy more food and better-quality food. In the 1980s and 1990s, when Japan, South Korea and Taiwan emerged from poverty to develop booming economies, their people became excellent new customers for corn and soybean producers in the Midwestern United States. Thus, not only is poverty-focused development assistance the right thing to do, it's also in the best economic interest of U.S. farmers.

The farm bill debate in Congress offers people of faith and conscience an important opportunity to fight hunger in the United States and in developing countries. For more information on our 2007 Offering of Letters, Seeds of Change: Help Farmers. End Hunger., see the background paper in this issue of Bread.

Save the Date

Sowing Seeds: Growing a Movement

Gathering 2007
June 9-12, Washington, DC

This June thousands of people of faith and conscience from across the country and around the world will gather in the nation's Capitol to do as God requires, strengthen the movement to overcome hunger and poverty (Micah 6:8).

Plan now to take part.

We will gather together to: 

• Revive our spirits and renew our commitment to the task of ending hunger
• Develop new skills for motivating our fellow citizens and mobilizing our faith communities.
• Strategize about how best to influence our nation's decision-makers.
• Visit our representatives' and senators' offices on Capitol Hill.
• Plan what we will do in the coming months and years to seek justice for hungry people.

Sign up to find out more as details become available.

back to top

New Officers and Members Welcomed to the BFW Board

Chair: David Miner
Indianapolis, IN.

He is a senior executive of Eli Lilly’s animal health unit and a grassroots activist for more than 20 years.

Pat Pelham, Vice Chair
Birmingham, AL

She is a long-time Bread for the World grassroots activist, an elder at Independent Presybterian Church, and a psychiatric nurse practitioner.
 

June Kim, Secretary
New York

She is the executive secretary of the World Hunger/Poverty and Sustainable Agriculture and Development programs of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR).

Ervin Sims, Jr., Treasurer
Kansas City, KS

He is the pastor of Mt. Carmel Church of God in Christ, a Bread for the World Covenant Church

Newly-elected board members also include:

• Sen. Bob Dole, Washington, DC
• Rep. Tony Hall, Dayton, OH
• Sen. Tom Harkin, Cumming, IA
• Joe Martingale, New York, NY
• Rep. Donald Payne, Newark, NJ
• Dayna Cade, Denver, CO
• Lee de Leon, Santa Ana, CA
• Terry Meehan, New York, NY
• Lawrence Reddick, Birmingham, AL
• Jack Taylor, Norwitch, VT
• Rep. Frank Wolf, Vienna, VA
• Bob Terry, Birmingham, AL

Thank you and welcome to all those serving on our board of directors in the coming year!

back to top

A Prayer of Epiphany

By Rev. Jim McDonald

God of the Prophets and Jesus our Savior:

We bow before you and lift our voices
in praise of your magnificent, merciful love now come to us.

Yet we are troubled by a world of war,
distraught by quiet crises and the loud lamentations that surround us.
Violence grieves our spirits.
The specter of hunger haunts our hearts.
The perniciousness of poverty diminishes our humanity.

How long, O Prince of Peace?
How long, O Suffering Servant,
will your love go unrequited, your justice denied, your kindness undone?

Teach us to pray as you taught your disciples of old.
Teach us to walk humbly and practice your presence.

Open our eyes to see the world as you see it,
touch our ears, our hands, our feet, our lips.
Send your spirit anew, Lord, so that we not only pray with fresh faith
but proclaim with whole hearts your good news to the poor, your release of the captives.

Our body, in Christ.
Christ's spirit, in us.
Make us a new creation,
Eternal God of miracle and mercy.

Rev. Jim McDonald is vice president for policy and program at Bread for the World.

back to top

A Political Solution to a Political Problem

How can a paper plate turn into money for hungry people? Ask any of the elementary-school students who have attended a hunger talk by Ed Payne. After using a variety of props to help the kids understand what's needed to end hunger, Payne has them write letters to their members of Congress on paper plates. Then, ta-da! The amateur magician makes the money appear in the folded plates – a direct result of the students' letter-writing advocacy.

Payne says that he had a revelation as well when he first learned about Bread for the World more than 25 years ago: 95 percent of global hunger is caused by political and economic decisions. So responding to hurricanes and other disasters, while vital, is only chipping away at five percent of the problem. The main solution to a largely political problem must be advocacy.

Payne has put this conviction to work as a long-time BFW activist and leader. He chairs a Bread for the World Minnesota steering committee that covers most of the state's congressional districts. The committee coordinates efforts in Minnesota with a newsletter, statewide workshops, district meetings and other activities.

Payne is also a familiar presence at Bread for the World's National Gatherings and Lobby Days. In fact, he frequently comes to the national office beforehand and helps staff finish preparations. He says that he has always drawn inspiration from the National Gatherings; most recently, he has been impressed by the growing number of students and young professionals drawn to the Emerging Leaders track at the events.

That’s not all that Payne does. He augments the impact of his activism by serving on the BFW Board of Directors and supporting our work financially. Outside Bread for the World but within the hunger advocacy community, he works to educate future pastors about hunger advocacy, heads the hunger committee at his 8,000-member Lutheran church, and chairs the Minneapolis ELCA Synod’s hunger committee.

Thank you to Ed Payne for his tireless efforts to get hungry people included in our country’s political agenda!

Bread for the World Efforts Thwarted by Congress

Bread for the World members engaged Congress is record numbers in 2006.  More than 300,000 letters, phone calls and visits were generated by Bread for the World members.  But despite the faithful activism of BFW members across the country, Congress adjourned without providing a single victory for hungry and poor people in 2006.

Our 2006 Offering of Letters, One Spirit. One Will. Zero Poverty., urged Congress to approve an additional $5 billion to keep our country's commitments to hungry and poor people around the world. But the outgoing Congress adjourned in December without finishing 10 of the 12 spending bills for the current fiscal year, which began October 1, so the increase for poverty-focused development assistance was never finalized.  There is still a possibility that the new Congress will take corrective action when it convenes in January.  But any increase in poverty-focused development assistance is a long shot at this point.

Bread for the World members also worked hard to persuade Congress to pass the Hunger-Free Communities Act (HFCA), which was first introduced in May 2005 after Bread members wrote tens of thousands of letters as part of that year's Offering of Letters.  The HFCA asked Congress to strengthen its resolve to cut U.S. hunger in half by 2010 and provide funding for local groups working together to solve hunger in their communities.  On December 8, the day before adjourning, the Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent.  But the next day, as Congress was wrapping up their session, key House leaders stood in the way of allowing the Senate bill to come to the floor for a vote.

These outcomes are disappointing and a lost opportunity to make a real difference for people in our country who struggle to put food on the table and those living in extreme poverty in poor countries everywhere.

Nonetheless, Bread for the World members can celebrate several achievements for 2006. Earlier in 2006, BFW members were able to convince Congress not to make cuts to food stamps and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program that had been proposed by the Bush administration in its 2007 budget request. Congress was also on track to approve at least a billion dollar increase in poverty-focused development assistance before they abandoned their effort to pass this year's spending bills.  Congress seemed especially attentive to the message that increases in the foreign operations spending bill should go primarily to expand efforts to help hungry and poor people get access to clean water, health care, sufficient food and other basics.

There is still one more opportunity for Congress to approve an increase in poverty-focused development assistance in the current budget.  See the action below to find out what you can do.

back to top

 
Urge your senators and representative to approve an additional $1 billion in fiscal year 2007 for efforts to fight HIV/AIDS.

Unsure who your member of Congress is?

Find contact information for returning and newly-elected members.

Points to make:

• In mid-January, Congress is expected to pass a resolution that maintains most federal programs at 2006 funding levels until the end of fiscal year 2007. It is very disappointing that Congress has been unable to finalize the increase in poverty-focused development assistance that lawmakers had been working toward.
  
  
• There is, however, an opportunity to increase the global HIV/AIDS resources available for 2007.
  
  
• The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to cause incalculable human suffering and economic devastation in developing countries. Congress should approve at least an additional $1 billion in funding for anti-retroviral medications, prevention and other essential services which will begin to save lives immediately.

U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510

U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Capitol Switchboard: 202/224-3121

back to top