On Lobby Day, the Gerondelis family (left to right) Ann, Isa, Stacy, John) from Atlanta, GA, met with Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) to advocate for foreign assistance reform.“Law doesn’t happen by accident,” said Diana Ohlbaum, senior staff member for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, as she briefed participants in Bread for the World’s Gathering 2009. She explained that to make laws fair and compassionate for hungry people, their voices must be heard in Congress.
On June 16, Lobby Day, about 320 participants heeded Ohlbaum’s words and visited their representatives. They lived out the theme of the Gathering, “Rejoice! Hope! Act!,” by urging their representatives to make U.S. foreign aid more effective in fighting hunger and poverty. In the House, Bread activists focused on getting support for the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009, H.R. 2139.
This bipartisan bill is a critical first step toward improving foreign assistance. It calls on the president to develop and implement a comprehensive national strategy for global development.
Bread is also working toward the introduction of an initial foreign assistance reform bill in the Senate in the coming weeks.
The Bread activists, coming from 38 states, visited more than 180 congressional offices on Lobby Day. Others who could not attend in person called their senators and representatives. In the following days, cosponsors of H.R. 2139 were added rapidly.
Students from New York’s Convent of the Sacred Heart and other New York activists meet with an aide to Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY).As Bread went to press, the bill had a total of 71 cosponsors. During Lobby Day alone, four representatives agreed to cosponsor the bill and lead sponsor Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) received more than 20 inquiries.
Building a critical mass of at least 100 cosponsors will help ensure that a national strategy for global development actually happens. To see whether your member of Congress is a cosponsor of H.R. 2139, and to learn more about Bread’s goals for this year’s Offering of Letters, please visit www.bread.org/OL2009.
One of this year’s youngest lobbyists was Adrienne, who recently finished third grade in Dunlap, IL. She visited her representative with her grandmother, Mary Anne Michelet. Adrienne told him about a school fundraiser where in six months, students raised nearly $1,000 for hungry children in Africa by selling pencils.
Adrienne’s conclusion: “If third-graders can raise that much money in just a few months, then I think the government can do better!”
High school students, including a group of girls from Convent of the Sacred Heart in New York City, spoke out on Lobby Day as well. Tess Scriptunas, a senior, wrote to her classmates, "The greatest thing I learned [from the Gathering] is how important it is that we never for a moment think that there is nothing we can do to fundamentally lessen the existence of poverty in our world.”
Kaj Pedersen is a student at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, CA, and a summer intern in Bread’s California regional office. Pedersen blogged about his three Lobby Day visits (www.breadblog.org):
“As I left that last meeting,” he blogged, “I was struck with an interesting thought: it is so easy to forget that the people in Washington are people like us. … Many times it is not a lack of goodwill which creates inaction, but rather an uncertainty of the direction… It is our job, the job of the constituents, to give them the will and the incentive to create policies which will change the world.”
At the end of Lobby Day, Bread honored five members of Congress for their consistent leadership on issues that affect hungry and poor people. Awards went to Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC-6), Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY-18), and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA-10).
In May, the Senate honored Bread’s work over the past 35 years by passing a resolution, S. Res. 157. The bipartisan resolution was introduced by Sens. Richard Lugar (R-IN), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), and Richard Durbin (D-IL).
The resolution recognizes Bread for the World for “its encouragement of citizen engagement, its advocacy for poor and hungry people, and its successes as a collective voice.”
Lobby at Home in September
As Lobby Day demonstrates every year, personal visits with senators and representatives are one of the most compelling ways to speak out for hungry people. Plan now to visit your member of Congress in your district and push for foreign assistance reform. Your Bread regional organizer can help you organize and prepare for a visit. See www.bread.org/about-us/contact/for his or her name.
The following senators cosponsored Senate Resolution 157, recognizing Bread for the World on its 35th anniversary:
- Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN)
- Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
- Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL)
- Sen. Herbert Kohl (D-WI)
- Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
- Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
- Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA)
- Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)
- Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
- Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD)
- Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
- Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Urge your representative to cosponsor and pass H.R. 2139, the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act, introduced by Reps. Howard Berman (D-CA), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Mark Kirk (R-IL). The bill is an essential first step in making U.S. foreign assistance more effective and streamlined. More coordinated and efficient aid will save lives.
Also, urge your senators to support legislation that will better coordinate U.S. foreign assistance so that it is more effective in reducing poverty. We need to ensure that development, along with defense and diplomacy, is a foreign policy priority.
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20510 |
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20515 |
Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
On the 35th anniversary of Bread for the World, we rejoice that so much progress has been made in the global response against hunger. While the recent economic crisis has been a great setback, we rejoice that – in the last 25 years – 500 million fewer people are going hungry in our world. Millions more children are going to school in Africa and elsewhere. In more recent years, life-saving medicines are turning back the ravages of AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.
These promising developments are the result of courageous and determined action by people all around the world. Bread for the World members, working with Lutheran advocacy networks and others, are an important part of the growing movement to overcome hunger, poverty, and disease. In our shared efforts, God is at work in the world, creating hope and opportunity for those in desperate need.
I am pleased that leaders from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America were present to celebrate the organization’s 35th Anniversary in Washington, DC, on June 15, 2009. Those who were present represented the many individuals and congregations who are members of Bread for the World.
The partnership between Bread for the World and the ELCA amplifies mission and ministry. It is “faith active in love.” Through Bread for the World, the ELCA World Hunger and Disaster Appeal, the ELCA Washington Office, and Lutheran World Relief join together to do much more to create long-term solutions to hunger.
Each day 15,000 fewer children die of hunger-related causes than in the 1970s. The advocacy efforts of the ELCA, Bread for the World, and others have helped save these lives.Many other church bodies, of course, also benefit from close collaboration with Bread for the World. I am inspired by the generosity of these churches and by the active involvement of their relief and development agencies. There are few other places where people from so many different faith traditions can work together so effectively. Bread for the World is, indeed, a collective Christian voice and is all the more powerful because it involves and supports churches at all levels.
Lutherans, Bread for the World’s “first founders,” have provided extraordinary leadership over the years, including Art Simon and David Beckmann. These remarkable leaders and the organization’s impressive history remind us of Bread for the World’s sustaining vision: that Christians are called to use our citizenship to address the causes of hunger.
As the global financial crisis confronts us with new and urgent challenges, we rededicate ourselves to our shared calling. We give thanks for the gift of faith and live in the joy that God’s abundant grace in Jesus Christ renews our hope as we act together to end hunger.
Bishop Mark S. Hanson is presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Bread for the World’s Web site has a new feature, “Field Focus.” Each month we’ll bring you new stories about some of the people—in the United States and around the world—who are being helped by Bread for the World’s advocacy. We’ll also introduce you to Christians who are putting their faith into action by serving people who are hungry and in need.
You can retell or reprint these stories—in your publications and your blogs, to your congregations, campus groups, and any other audiences. It’s a great way to introduce Bread’s and its partners' effective work.
And you can help us tell our stories! If you have story ideas, from mission trips, or direct service work that you or your congregation does, email a short description and your contact information to us at fieldfocus@bread.org.
Bread for the World Sunday is an opportunity for churches to renew their commitment to ending hunger and poverty in God's world. Worship communities across the country will join together to lift up their voices on behalf of hungry people. Many congregations celebrate Bread for the World Sunday just after World Food Day (October 16), but many others choose a Sunday between World Food Day and Thanksgiving.
For more information or to order your FREE worship resources, visit www.bread.org/sunday.
A Senate resolution, S. Res. 157, recognizes Bread for the World’s 35 years of hunger advocacy. Read the full text of the resolution at www.bread.org/resolution.
Knowing the committee assignments of your representative and your two senators will help you target your advocacy efforts for hungry people. The Committee List is now available online at www.bread.org/committees.
If you would like a printed copy of the list, please contact your regional organizer.
Latino religious leaders, along with other activists, prepare to speak out for hungry and poor people. Below, Aida Hidalgo and Rev. Hector Carrasquillo at the Latino Organizing Consultation held at Bread’s Gathering 2009.During the 2009 Gathering, a diverse group of 19 Latino religious leaders held a historic consultation. They met to consult with each other and Bread staff and board members on hunger issues, their ministries, and advocacy efforts among Latinos in the United States.
"Many of the participants recognized each other's names but had never met personally," said Ricardo Moreno, Bread's national organizer for Latino relations. The group included denominational leaders and theologians representing Catholics, conservative evangelicals, progressive evangelicals, and mainline Protestant denominations.
The Latino leaders came from several regions of the United States. Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans participated along with Latinos who have family roots overseas in a range of nations from El Salvador to Argentina.
"The consultation was very crucial in helping Bread engage more with the Latino community," said Rev. Walter Contreras, director of church planning at the Evangelical Covenant Church in San Dimas, CA. "It's very important to include Latino leaders in order to get a complete perspective on the issues Bread is concerned with. This participation can help move Bread's issues to the next level."
For example, he said, Latinos are the main agricultural workforce in the United States. "Latinos live the issue of agriculture. When we come together to end hunger and poverty, our message must be led by the poor and accountable to the poor."
At the Gathering, the leaders offered a workshop on organizing in Latino communities. It focused broadly on the context of Latino organizing and ministry to hungry and poor people. The room was packed.
"I found that the Gathering is a very good place for networking and getting to know the work of Bread in depth," said Rev. Hector Carrasquillo, director for Latino ministries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.
Aida Hidalgo, director of Hispanic ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Providence, RI, especially appreciated meeting different people, from different denominations, but with Christ as a common denominator.
"I also appreciate that Bread wants to include women as leaders. In many ministries, not too many women are involved as leaders, but Bread recognizes that it is important to include us," she said.
Along with other Gathering participants, the Latino leaders learned more about our 2009 Offering of Letters at a briefing on Lobby Day. They also had a meeting at the U.S. Department of Agriculture that brought together officials from several federal agencies, including agriculture, education, commerce, and homeland security.
"It enabled us to present perspectives from Latino leaders about a range of issues that affect our people," Rev. Carrasquillo said. He spoke for several participants when he added: "The important question now is: How can we follow up? What's next?"
Art Simon signs his book for former Bread for the World board chair María Otero at the recent 35th anniversary dinner in Washington, DC.“We began with a tiny seed of an idea, but the seed had life and, when planted, God gave it growth.”--Art Simon, The Rising of Bread for the World
Art Simon, Bread’s founder and president emeritus, tells the compelling story of his life and the founding of Bread in his new book, The Rising of Bread for the World: An Outcry of Citizens Against Hunger.
In telling Bread for the World’s story for the first time, Simon describes the struggles, against the odds, that led to surprising victories for hungry people. He shares setbacks as well, in a behind-the-scenes account of Bread’s emergence as the nation’s leading Christian voice against hunger.
The book has been praised in several reviews, including this one by Publisher’s Weekly: "As he takes readers through a crash course on hunger policy and the workings of a Christian nonprofit, Simon applauds all those who helped leave their fingerprints on the struggle to overcome world hunger. . . . Readers. . . will find themselves cheering on a humble, mission-driven organization—and perhaps be persuaded to join the movement.”
“This book offers a great opportunity for Bread’s supporters to get to know the organization—and our founder—on a much deeper level,” said David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “I hope people will not only read the book, but use it to introduce new people to Bread and encourage them to join us.”
One way to do that: Write a review of the book for your church newsletter or Web site, or request a review from your local newspaper.
Published by Paulist Press, The Rising of Bread for the World is now available at www.breadstore.org/artsimon.
Art Simon will be travelling across the United States this fall to meet with Bread members and talk about The Rising of Bread for the World. Please join us in a city near you.
Sunnyvale, CA
Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church
Tuesday, September 1, 7:30 p.m.
Fullerton, CA
First Christian Church
Saturday, September 5, 10:00 a.m.
Los Angeles, CA
Brentwood Presbyterian Church
Sunday, September 6
8:00, 9:30, and 11:00 a.m.
Seattle, WA
Elliott Bay Book Company
Tuesday, September 8, 7:30 p.m.
Note: Art Simon will be introduced by PBS Host and long-time Bread for the World member Rick Steves.
Portland, OR
Westminster Presbyterian Church
Wednesday, September 9, 8:00 a.m.
Fulton, MO
Westminster College
Sept. 22-23, as a part of the 2009 Symposium on Democracy
Clemson, SC
First Baptist Church of Clemson
Thursday, September 24, 6:45 p.m.
Columbia, SC
Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary
Friday, September 25, 5:00 p.m. |
Greenville, SC
Buncombe Street United Methodist Church
Sunday, September 27
8:45, 9:00, and 11:00 a.m.
Sioux Falls, SD
Augustana College
Monday, October 5, 7:00 p.m.
Twin Cities, MN (Roseville)
Church of Corpus Christi
Tuesday, October 6, 7:00 p.m.
Chicago, IL
Agape House
Friday, October 16, 6:00 p.m.
Lebanon, OH
Otterbein Lebanon Retirement Community
Wednesday, October 28, 3:00 p.m.
Cincinnati, OH
Knox Presbyterian Church
Friday, October 30, 7:30 p.m.
Silver Spring, MD
St. Camillus Catholic Church
Wednesday, November 11, 7:00 p.m.
Philadelphia, PA
Villanova University
Wednesday, November 18, 7:30 p.m.
Allentown, PA
Luther Crest Retirement Community
Sunday, November 22, 3:00 p.m. |
Thanks to dedicated hunger activists and many enthusiastic cyclists, Bread for the World has a powerful advocate against hunger in the state of Nebraska.
Fourteen years ago, Rev. Bill Ritter, senior pastor at First United Methodist Church in Columbus, NE, had an idea while cycling in the countryside. A cycling event, he thought, could bring much-needed funding to ministries benefiting hungry people while spreading the word about hunger all over the Cornhusker State.
Thus “NUMB”—the Nebraska United Methodist Bike Ride for Hunger—was born. To date, this four-day, 125-mile event has provided more than $400,000 to various hunger ministries. Thanks to longtime Bread for the World partner Rev. Carol Windrum, Bread has been a grateful beneficiary of one-fourth of the ride’s proceeds for the past five years—more than $40,000 to our ministry. As director of the United Methodist Church’s Peace with Justice Ministries, Windrum, a former UMC pastor, has introduced countless Nebraskans to our work.
Rev. Ritter, NUMB’s director, has ridden all 14 years the event has taken place. Ritter is quick to say he doesn’t execute the event on his own. The ride committee works all year round, with personnel to direct each year’s route, register participants, organize social activities, and support riders during the event.
Riders represent many denominations. A good number of church pastors ride, as do plenty of non-churchgoers. Ritter is especially proud that a significant number have been inspired by the NUMB experience to join churches in their home cities.
From the beginning, one of Ritter’s personal goals was for the ride to physically reach each of Nebraska’s 93 counties over the years. In this way, news of hunger’s prevalence and what people can do to help, spread throughout the entire state. With this year’s ride, which took place June 27-July 1, they have covered 91 of the 93 counties.
This extraordinary event, says Windrum, is a way to help Nebraskans –riders, sponsors, and spectators alike – to integrate the idea of direct help to hungry people with that of policy change toward long-term sustainability.
Later in 2005, the first summer of Bread’s involvement with NUMB, Windrum served as one of Bread’s representatives at the G-8 Summit in Scotland. There, she distributed the same cardboard letters that she had used in Nebraska during NUMB to remind all of the ride’s broader purpose. Held aloft by individuals, the letters made as powerful a statement in Scotland as they did in Nebraska: “M-A-K-E P-O-V-E-R-T-Y H-I-S-T-O-R-Y.”
Bread for the World is deeply grateful to Bill Ritter, Carol Windrum, and all who support this extraordinary event.
It’s time to elect Bread for the World’s leadership. Please visit www.bread.org/boardvoting and vote for up to eight of the 16 nominees.
