Bread for the World urges Christians to respond to hunger
‘Recipe for Hope’ campaign kicks off on Mother’s Day
Presbyterian News Service
May 8, 2008
by Evan Silverstein
LOUISVILLE — Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) partner Bread for the World [ www.bread.org/ ]is calling on people of faith to respond to a growing global hunger crisis by adding their voices to its Recipe for Hope campaign, which runs from Mother's Day (May 11) through Father's Day (June 15).
The five-week campaign encourages participants to stock food pantries, educate others about the hunger crisis, fasting, praying, raising funds for Christian anti-hunger programs, focusing worship services on hunger issues and writing letters urging members of Congress to enact long-term solutions to hunger.
"We want people of faith to know that they can make a difference by taking a series of simple but critical actions to end hunger now," said the Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. "Together we can turn the recipe for despair into a recipe of hope for thousands of mothers and fathers struggling to feed their families."
The Recipe for Hope is being conducted against the backdrop of a worldwide hunger crisis fueled by rising food prices that have nearly doubled in the last three years, with the largest spikes for basic grains like rice, wheat and corn, according to the Christian anti-hunger group.
The World Bank estimates that as many as 100 million people will join the ranks of 854 million poor and hungry people who currently do not have enough to eat each day. Hardest hit are children, 16,000 of whom die daily due to hunger-related causes or one child every five seconds.
"As Jesus reminds us, when we share our bread with those who are hungry, God blesses even our smallest efforts," Beckmann said. "Feeding the hungry is itself an act of worship."
Bread for the World is a lobbying group based in Washington, DC. The 58,000-member non-partisan organization is supported by 2,300 churches and more than 45 denominations and church agencies, including the PC(USA) and the Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP) [www.pcusa.org/hunger ]. The group lobbies Congress and the administration for public-policy changes to address the root causes of hunger and poverty in the United States and abroad.
To add your voice to the Recipe of Hope campaign, sign up at www.bread.org\recipeforhope.
