World Food Prize winner David Beckmann speaks in Chicago

Last night, I took advantage of a great opportunity to see and hear David Beckmann speak in Chicago. Rev. Beckmann is the president of Bread for the World- a Christian anti-hunger advocacy group – as well as this year’s World Food Prize winner. He spoke at the beautiful Fourth Presbyterian Church on Walnut downtown..a beautiful venue I’ve always wanted to take a peek into. It was a great chance to gather with other poverty fighters and hear reflections from someone who’s been doing this at least 4 times as long as I have.

Overall, Beckmann gives us a hopeful message. In this time of recession and frustration, he put into perspective how far we have come in fighting poverty around the world. Here are some highlights from his talk.

Reflections on Mozambique: In his travels to Mozambique he went to a village where he was greeted warmly by 50 people singing praises to God. This was a village where people raised only cassava on their small plots and ate the gooey food from it to survive. The village had no cars and only bikes. It was clear that they lived in extreme poverty, but not clear how any foreign aid had provided help. One of his colleagues asked them “How have they improved their lives in the last years?” The answers were highly significant: We have peace. We have a school now and even the AIDS orphans go to primary school. People with AIDS have access to retroviral medicines. We have information about AIDS and how to prevent it, no longer assuming it was a cause of witchcraft. Beckmann was struck by the reach of the US government to strongly impact their daily lives and by the work of the people at the local level & Mozambique government. Mostly, he was profoundly encouraged by the progress there, which in fact can be repeated many other places.

World progress against poverty: 26,000 kids die EVERY day from preventable causes, ½ of those from hunger related causes. But in 1960, 55000 kids died each day. This is remarkable progress made just in the last 2-3 decades. He sees this as evidence of God moving in our time. A God who liberates people in a great exodus from poverty. This is happening NOW.

“Give-a-damn”: Our progress has been sporadic. We did cut global poverty in ½ around the Johnson-Nixon eras. In the 1990’s it was cut by ¼. But it was not sustained progress. The difference between the times when we progressed and when we did not was “Give-a-damn.” We haven’t had a presided since Johnson that made poverty reduction a priortity.

Why politics and policy?: Why do we have to use the government instead of charitable food banks? Beckmann says you can’t food-bank your way to the end of poverty. We tried that. Food banks are a good thing and almost every church and synagogue has food collection for the hungry. But we are still hungry as a people. All our efforts result in food banking results in $5 billion worth of food for people per year. The Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit (credits for low-income Americans) are worth more than twice as much as all the food banking done in a year.

Tax Credits: All the national talk and debate is about tax credits for the wealthy, but there are two credits for the working poor that may expire at the end of the year. The Earned Income Tax Credit should be a no-brainier. Conservatives like it because it rewards work. The more people work, the more they get. It is one of the biggest anti-poverty programs the US has today. If this reauthorization for EITC and the Child Tax Credit is not approved, then 1 million more kids will be pushed into poverty.

Biblical Examples of Policy change: Jesus cared about the effect of policies and law. He resisted laws that marginalized people, like the Sabbath law that prevented healing. St. Paul used his Roman citizenship for the purposes of God. Moses went to Pharaoh to change slavery.

Consequences of Inaction: 1 in 4 American kids live in a household that runs out of food. Permanent damage is being done to these kids that they (and we) will see the effects of for the next 50-60 years.

What can we do today?: It is time to call the faithful off the couch. The chances of getting things done are actually better than they have been. This is what we can do today, especially with the election right around the corner
1) Drive someone to the polls who couldn’t normally get there
2) Pick a candidate good for poor people and send them $50
3) Join Bread for the World and get engaged in citizenship on behalf of people in poverty. It’s not easy, you’ll have to use your head AND your heart.

Successes of Bread for the World:
1) In the last 10 years, we’ve tripled the development assistance to poor countries. The benefits are most clearly seen in Africa where 17 countries have cut poverty by 1/3. The work was done by Africans, but when they were organized and ready, we have the money available to help them
2) Foreign aid reform: Bread has been working on foreign aid reform for a few years pushing for effectiveness, responsibility, coordination, etc. When Obama took office, the administration was clear with Bread that it was not a priority and they couldn’t take time for it. So, Bread and its allies went to Congress with a foreign aid reform bill, which passed the Senate foreign relations committee. At that point, the administration took notice and said “Wait, give us a chance to do this.” And three weeks ago, Obama announced a clear, coherent policy of foreign aid. It’s a GOOD plan incorporating Bread’s ideas and some of the administration’s own.
3) Sustaining WIC programs to provide food for pregnant women and infants. Beckmann shared a touching personal story of finding out how Bread’s fight to sustain these programs when they were under attack during Reagan’s administration helped his own family. Long after that fight was over and won, he discovered that one of his adopted sons was born of a mother who struggled in poverty and was able to care for herself during pregnancy only because of these programs that Bread had fought for. His son is bright and strong, but may not have been if the mother had no access to government assistance.

Beckmann’s talk was inspiring and moving. To hear more about his account of how Christians are called to change the politics of hunger, pick up his book (available now on Amazon.com) “Exodus from Hunger” and if you are so moved, go to www.bread.com to join Bread for the World

Call in to help the Working Poor: Bread for the World

A Call-in Action from Bread for the World:


Our country is focused on taxes this week, so let’s make sure that when Congress works on tax policy, the needs of low-income people aren’t forgotten.

ACTION NEEDED:
Please call your senators and representative at 1-800-826-3688 by 5 p.m., Friday, April 16, and urge them to protect and strengthen key tax credits — the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit.

These tax credits make a big difference for low-income workers and their families.

(Note: This toll-free number will connect you to the Capitol switchboard. Please ask for your senators’ and representative's offices so you can leave your message.)

Explain your message further by adding either or both of these points:

The EITC and CTC are critical to helping working families make ends meet and feed their families. The costs of basic needs have risen while wages have remained largely stagnant.

If Congress does not act to extend the most recent expansions to the EITC and CTC made in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009:
-7 million low-income people could lose EITC benefits
- 6 million children will lose the CTC benefit completely, and 10 million children will receive a smaller credit
- More than 1.5 million people -- including nearly 800,000 children -- will fall back into poverty.

Sign Petition for Obama to support foreign assistance

If you agree with this statement - "I strongly support U.S. foreign assistance efforts that alleviate poverty, fight disease, and create opportunity in developing countries" - sign Bread for the World's petition to President Obama:

Right now, President Obama and his senior advisors are preparing recommendations that will shape the future of U.S. efforts to alleviate poverty, fight disease, and create economic opportunity for the world’s poorest people.

Please sign the petition launched by Bread and our partners asking the White House to send a strong signal about America’s commitment to development. We need 150,000 signatures by December 17. Add your name today.

Chicago Food Depository reaches new record of demand

Some new data from the Greater Chicago Food Depository, courtesy of the Chicago Trib religion blog at http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/religion_theseeker/2009/11/faith-hunger.html
(The entry also mentions Bread for the World as a way to help feed the hungry)


"Evidence of the problem locally can be found in recent data released by the Greater Chicago Food Depository. The food bank established a new record for demand in September, with 427,660 visits to our member pantries in Cook County. The first three months of the fiscal year are 26 percent ahead of last year’s pace in pantry visits, and 70 percent ahead of the pace of two years ago.

Furthermore, poverty rates for Illinois (12.2 percent), Cook County (14.8 percent) and Chicago (20.6 percent) continue to rise. In Cook County, the unemployment rate of 10.6 percent was four percentage points higher than the same time last year and higher than the national average of 9.8 percent.

The depository has distributed 1.7 million more pounds year to date than last year during a similar period. Distribution of produce also exceeds last year at this time."

Foreign Assistance Call-in Event: S. 1524

An immediate call-in action From Bread for the World. NOTE: Sens Durbin and Burris are not yet co-sponsors!
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We need 25 senators to cosponsor S. 1524, the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act, when the Senate begins discussing it on September 22.

Please call your senators at 1-800-826-3688 before Tuesday, September 22, and urge him/her to cosponsor S. 1524.

S. 1524 is a bipartisan bill which lays out several initial and important reforms of the U.S. foreign assistance system. If your senator is not a cosponsor please ask for cosponsorship. If your senator is already a cosponsor, please call and thank him/her for supporting this important legislation.

S. 1524 was introduced in August by John Kerry (D-MA), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Richard Lugar (R-IN), ranking member, along with Bob Corker (R-TN), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Jim Risch (R-ID). We need to have at least 25 cosponsors when they meet on Sept. 22. Currently, the bill has 10 cosponsors.

S. 1524 complements H.R. 2139, the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act, introduced in the House in April. (Thanks to your support, we now have more than 100 cosponsors for the House bill). These two bills are key to the success of our 2009 Offering of Letters which urges Congress and the administration to reform U.S. foreign assistance.

While not identical, the Senate and House bills would begin the reform process. S. 1524 will strengthen the badly decimated U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and make all our foreign aid programs more accountable and transparent.


Message and Key Points:

Your main message should be: Please cosponsor S. 1524, the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act.

You can explain your message further by adding either or both of these points:

-S. 1524 is a strong building block to make our nation’s foreign assistance more effective and accountable. We need you to cosponsor the bill.
-S. 1524 focuses on rebuilding the policy, planning, and evaluation capacity of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID.) It stresses that U.S. policy should be to promote global development, good governance, and the reduction of poverty and hunger.

For more info, visit www.bread.org. Thank you for your support!

Global vs. Domestic Poverty...Is it really "us" or "them"?

Sometimes I get a blog comment that really needs to come out to be it's own post. I got a very sincere comment from a reader who is troubled about domestic poverty and is concerned that efforts to combat global poverty are detracting from efforts to help U.S. citizens. I invite you to read her thoughtful comment and my response below because it is a very common conversation. No matter how you feel about this, please get involved and be engaged in the fight against whatever type of poverty inflames your passion!

“I think it's fantastic that these people want to help end hunger and poverty around the world. But there is one thing that has always bothered me...

So many organizations based in the US work so hard to aid other countries with their poverty. What I see is all the homeless and poverty stricken Americans that need that aid just as much. 

I feel that we as Americans can provide so much more support to other countries if we ensure that our own citizens are healthy, happy, and well cared for first. If we could provide for all the American's in need, our economy and general moral would be so much higher. Thus, making America in a better position to provide for other countries.

 I'm sorry, but I feel like we should take care of ourselves first and foremost... to be stronger for the struggles ahead.” –Jessica


Thank you for sharing your feelings, Jessica. You’re not alone in your opinion. I offer a few thoughts to consider.


Advocacy organizations like Bread for the World and RESULTS agree with you in that we cannot ignore the suffering in our own country. Bread runs a domestic hunger campaign approximately every other year (past US campaigns have been for food stamps & TANF...next year's will be focused on US poverty as well). RESULTS also has groups of volunteers with domestic focus that did considerable work to develop our Head Start program (most of them are working on health care now) in addition to groups working on global issues. 



Where Bread and RESULTS disagree with you is the notion that this is an either/or situation...help them OR help us. We invest only 0.17% of our national budget on international poverty reduction. Considering how many times our military must intervene in countries destabilized by destitute poverty (costing us money and - worse- lives), the savings and benefits to our citizens for eradicating extreme poverty is enormous.

Also, please consider that global health is a local issue. We have all but wiped out tuberculosis here, but because the world hasn't addressed it globally, Multi Drug Resistant TB developed in poverty hotspots and now is showing up in our borders because it's an airborne disease only a plane ride away. 



Lastly, I encourage you to consider the relative scale of poverty. When we speak of poverty in the U.S., it doesn't really come close to the World Bank's definition of extreme poverty...living on less than $1.25 a day. Generally, even the poorest Americans have access to clean water through public drinking fountains.

I thank you for your comment and encourage you to take your passion for helping those in need to a level of advocacy. Visit Bread at www.bread.org or RESULTS at www.results.org to get connected and engaged!

Bread for the World on CBS, Sept 27

Mark your calendars for Sept 27. CBS will air a special featuring Bread for the World - "Religion, Politics, and Advocacy"

“Religion, Politics, and Advocacy” is a 30-minute inter-faith special produced by CBS Television. It will air on Sunday, Sept. 27 nationally. Please check your local CBS affiliate for exact air times.

The program follows "citizen advocates" who participate in the Bread for the World's annual Lobby Day in Washington, D.C. This is a Christian advocacy organization, whose mission is to end hunger and poverty throughout the world. We hear from the group's founder and president emeritus, Arthur Simon, and current president, Rev. David Beckmann, as well.

"Partnering with the Bottom Billion" Workshop Oct 3

Dear fellow Chicagoland activists:

I'd like to invite you all to an upcoming workshop in Evanston called "Partnering with the Bottom Billion: Seeking Justice in a World in Crisis" on Sat, Oct 3 from 9AM-2PM. It will feature guest speaker, Jim Winkler from the United Methodist Global Board of Church and Society, who will help us focus on people living in extreme poverty as we explore core issues of Peace, Sustainability and Poverty.

The event will also present an advocacy training session. La Vida Davis of Bread for the World staff will teach beginning activists how to write effective letters to elected officials and take the mystery out of phoning a congressional office for a "call-in" event. If you've already mastered those skills, RESULTS will lead the more experienced activists to help you explore the next levels...writing a letter-to-the-editor, asking a question at a town hall meeting, responding to a blog, face-to-face meetings, or whatever else you want to know!

I invite you all to come and be a part of this wonderful, new event! There will be a Methodist perspective presented in some of the sessions, but we are mainly talking about issues affecting people in extreme poverty in an advocacy-focused, non-partisan way. Please also invite your friends who are interested in our issues! More details will follow as materials come out.


What: Workshop called "Partnering with the Bottom Billion: Seeking Justice in a World in Crisis"
Who: First United Methodist Church and YOU!
When: Saturday, Oct 3 from 9AM-2PM
Where: First United Methodist Church of Evanston, 516 Church Street
Price: $12 per person by Sept 21 ($15 after that date) to cover cost of lunch

You'll soon be able to register online at www.faithatfirst.com (click on "The Latest") or call the church ofice at 847-864-6181.

Foreign Aid Reform Introduced in the Senate

Bread for the World Urges Senators To Pass Initial Aid Reform Bill

Washington, DC, July 28, 2009—Bread for the World President Rev. David Beckmann urged members of the Senate to promptly pass a bill introduced today aimed at revitalizing the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The bipartisan bill -- the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009 (S.1524) -- was introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA), Ranking Member Richard Lugar (R-IN), and Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Bob Corker (R-TN), Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Jim Risch (R-ID).

“Revitalizing USAID is crucial to the overall reform of U.S. foreign assistance,” said Rev. Beckmann. “If the Obama Administration and Congress improve the effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance, our dollars will do more good for decades to come.”

USAID was created to lead U.S. development efforts and was once the premier development agency in the world. However, after years of benign neglect and proliferating aid programs across the U.S. government, USAID has lost much of its professional capacity, expertise and authority.

The bill includes a formal statement that it is U.S. policy to promote global development, good governance, and the reduction of poverty and hunger. It contains provisions for restoring planning, policy, and evaluation capacities to USAID. It also lays out new transparency measures for U.S. foreign assistance.

Rev. Beckmann, who is also co-chair of the Modernizing Foreign Aid Network, called for the immediate appointment of an administrator for USAID. He said that an administrator should be in place to provide a development perspective as the State Department institutes a quadrennial review and develops a blueprint for U.S. diplomatic and development efforts.

He cautioned that without a USAID administrator, the State Department’s review has the potential to blur the important distinction between diplomacy and development. “When we try to achieve development and diplomatic goals with the same dollars, aid is usually much less effective in reducing poverty,” said Rev. Beckmann.

The Senate bill introduced today complements the efforts of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA-28) and his initial aid reform bill, H.R. 2139, which currently has 91 bipartisan cosponsors.

Rev. Beckmann added that the White House, the State Department, and USAID should work closely with the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in order to coordinate foreign aid reform efforts.

“Let's Talk Bread” Group—Evanston, IL July 28

"Let’s Talk Bread" is a group of Chicago-area people, who are interested in exploring the connections between faith and public policy. Through lively, monthly conversations—whether discussing a book, article or current event— we hope to better understand the problems of poverty and hunger and shed light on possible solutions.

This month we will be meeting in Evanston and discussing a book by Peter Singer that examines poverty, foreign aid, social justice and giving: The Life You Can Save. All are welcome, even if you haven’t read the book. If you are unable to read the book, check out a helpful review at this New York Times link. From that page, you can also read part of the first chapter. Along with the discussion, we will briefly share some of our recent lobby experiences in Washington, D.C., and hear an update on Bread’s current campaign to reform U.S. foreign aid.

Please join the conversation at 7:30 p.m. on Tues., July 28, at First United Methodist Church, 516 Church St., Evanston, IL (at Church and Hinman). Use the Church St. entrance.

If you have any questions, please contact the Chicago regional Bread office at 1-800-447-0239 or breadchicago@bread.org.

Bringing Kids to Lobby

I have so many cool stories from my recent trip to DC with my RESULTS group I hardly know where to begin. But, as always, when I don't know what to talk about...I talk about my kids or something they've done. :)

One of the most interesting successes of our group lobby visits on the Hill this year was our new tactic of bringing the voices of children into our visits. We didn’t literally have them with us, but with a little prep work at home we were able to help kids have a powerful impact in our message to promote Global Education.

Global Education is an easy topic for kids to connect with, so I held a letter-writing party for neighborhood moms who brought their children to write with them. We read the story of “One Hen” by Katie Smith Milway together. It’s a true story about a boy who used a microcredit loan to buy one hen, which begins his family’s path out of poverty. (Since they eventually pay school fees with it and use the proceeds of a chicken farm to send him to college, it’s a Global Ed story, too). Then, the moms and kids wrote letters for our meetings. Our local media was also invited to the party which resulted in a front page story about our lobby visits with two large color pictures of our kids busily writing the very letters we’d deliver in person on Lobby Day. In addition, another group member had her high school kids send letters with their opinions, too. Every time we brought out that front-page picture, and especially if we had kid letters with it, it brought the meeting to a halt in a very good way. Studious expressions turned to smiles, our group was complimented for our initiative, the cute kids were ooh-ed and aah-ed over.

As an example of how much children can help us, I offer a story from Senator Burris’ office. After discussing Global Education – complete with our media, kid-letters, a story about Julia and her “Journey with an Afghan School” project – I wrapped up by saying that if Julia could accomplish all she had at her own personal risk and expense, surely the U.S. could step up and do more. He then told us a story from a meeting with Bread for the World that took place week prior to our visit. Bread activists had brought 8-year-old girl Adrienne along with them. She told her personal story of selling pencils in her class and raising $900 for an international development project. With her feet swinging, not even able to reach the floor, she ended by telling him that if she could do that, she thought the American government could do more, too. It obviously made a big impression on him as he repeated the story with the comment directed toward both Bread and RESULTS, “You guys are really good at this!” He then asked if the kids’ addresses were all included because he really wanted to make sure that they each got a response.

For the RESULTS parents out there, I’d like to say this…sometimes it seems like it’s hard to merge our worlds of highly intellectual lobbying and highly emotional caretaking. Yet I urge you to find creative ways to blend the two. Our lobbying needs more emotion, personal connection and icebreakers in general. Kid-letters and media with children featured is a great way to do this. We only had actual kid-generated letters to deliver for two of our meetings. For every other meeting, I showed our front-page picture, which helped, but I wished I had more of those letters to hand out. For next year, I can only say this…we’re gonna need some more kids!

2009 Bread Lobby Day a success

I couldn't attend Bread for the World's Lobby Day in Washington, DC to lobby for Foreign Assistance Reform, but many of my colleagues did. Sounds like it was a great success. I, myself, followed up a week later with the RESULTS group (more on that later!)...but I did keep my Bread hat on and made sure we talked about Foreign Aid as well to reinforce the message! Here's a Bread update about it... -ccyl

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Foreign Assistance Reform

Lobby Day 2009, held June 16, was an enormous success! Some 320 participants from 38 states held more than 180 meetings with members of Congress or their staff.
By the end of the week, 11 more members of Congress cosponsored H.R. 2139, the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009. The bill’s lead sponsor, Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), received more than 25 phone calls from other congressional offices asking for more information.
As of yesterday, H.R. 2139 had 46 cosponsors. More are set to cosponsor as a result of Lobby Day and your calls and letters.
We are preparing for the introduction of an initial foreign assistance reform bill in the Senate within the next few weeks.
Thank you to all who attended, and also to all who could not attend Lobby Day but phoned their representatives about H.R. 2139.

Senate Praises Bread for the World's Advocacy Work

Usually, advocacy organizations are recognizing members of Congress for their work. Last week, it was the other way around! Thank you, Senator Durbin!

"Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) introduced a resolution recognizing Bread for the World’s 35 years of work on hunger and poverty. Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) were original cosponsors of the resolution. S. Res. 157 passed the Senate by unanimous consent on June 2."

Bread for the World's 2009 Offering of Letters

Hundreds of Bread for the World Covenant churches around the nation are holding the Offering of Letters with their congregations. Maybe the best way I can explain it is by posting my opening remarks I've written for my own congregation this Sunday.... -ccyl
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Welcome to “Offering of Letters” Sunday!

This is my favorite Sunday at First Church. Easter’s coming up and it’s very impressive, but today is when we collectively take on one of the biggest tasks Christianity calls us to do… you and I will take action together in an effort to do no less than end poverty.

Bread for the World is a collective Christian voice urging our nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad. Every year at Bread for the World’s Offering of Letters, we sit down after worship in the Great Hall to write letters to Congress on behalf of people in poverty. We each write 3 letters (to 2 Senators and one Representative) to join over a hundred thousand more letters from other churches pushing for policies reflecting our moral obligation to aid the poorest people in our world.

This year, we have a simple request about a complicated system of Foreign Aid. All the money the U.S. sends to fight global poverty is regulated by a 48 yr old Foreign Assistance Act. It’s outdated and now has aid going through across 12 departments, 25 agencies and nearly 60 government offices – all with different and sometimes conflicting priorities.

Foreign aid works for people like Nubia Bacca of Nicaragua. Two years after nearly losing her dairy cattle when her husband died, she is now running a self-sufficient farm employing 9 others in her community using farming and husbandry techniques she learned from a US development assistance program. So, our aid works, but we need it to work better and for more people.

We’re not even asking for more money this year. We just want better use of our tax dollars in a time when we have none to waste.

Here’s our message today: Reform foreign aid. Make it efficient, accountable and effective for children, women and men living and dying on less than $1.25 a day. A poverty-focused foreign assistance system would provide help faster and more effectively when the world needs it most.

Please join us in the Great Hall after worship today. Your letters are a fit offering to God.

Let's Talk Bread: Feb recap

I'm a bit late on this, but here is the recap from the last "Let's Talk Bread" discussion. We had activists from Bread for the World, RESULTS and ONE as well as general concerned citizens at this lively discussion about foreign aid and the need to reform it this year. Anyone interested in networking with Chicago activists fighting global poverty is welcome to join us at our next meeting: Thurs., Mar. 26 from 7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. at United Lutheran Church, 409 Greenfield Street, Oak Park.

This recap was written by Zach Schmidt from Bread for the World's Chicago office. Feel free to continue the discussion by commenting here!
-ccyl
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Hi everyone!

Thank you all for a lively and fruitful discussion last night. Many people were talking and sharing their thoughts, listening and challenging each other to more deeply engage the issues of hunger and reforming US foreign assistance. It was a great night! Thank you all for allowing me to help facilitate discussion.

As promised, some of the key points/themes that stand out in my mind are:
-the tension between demanding or asking or expecting certain actions
-from whom actions are demanded/asked/expected (from our leaders, from our neighbors, from ourselves)
-responsibility
-ways in which we are currently engaged in advocacy and activism (from clicking on The Hunger Site to organizing a group of moms to write letters to their representative)
-what is required so that all might have the basic essentials for a decent life (sacrificing luxuries, redirecting a small percentage of US GDP toward the Bottom Billion, reforming US trade policy, putting the issues before our legislators and demanding/asking/expecting a response, etc.)
-some different arguments for the importance of reducing poverty and hunger (especially, the self-interest argument(s) vs. the moral argument(s))
-why people still suffer from hunger (e.g., lack of sustained awareness of hunger)
-most people, when faced with the reality of extreme poverty and hunger, will be amenable to the need to help. The problem is people are not aware in a way that deeply grips them on a daily basis.

As I said last night, I did not take notes, so this is from memory. I apologize if I am missing someone’s great contribution! And I would invite people to Reply to All and continue the discussion via email.

Have a blessed week!

Bread for the World 2009 Offering of Letters

Here is the Bread for the World 2009 Offering of Letters video about foreign assistance which has now been posted on youtube. It's an 8 1/2 min viewing that sums up our upcoming event quite nicely. Stay tuned for more details about the Offering of Letters!

2009 Offering of Letters

ccyl

Let's Talk Bread mtg: 2/24

The Let's Talk Bread discussions about Foreign Aid Reform have been very successful and are going deeper on the topic every time. Therefore, we'll dedicate at least one more session to it. Here are the details!
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The next meeting will be Tues., Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m. The location is the same: United Lutheran Church, 409 Greenfield St, Oak Park, IL.

We have agreed to continue the conversation on foreign assistance reform during the next meeting. If you have not done so, please read the informative 2009 Hunger Report from the Bread for the World Institute, found at: www.hungerreport.org. If you would like, you can order a hard copy from the website at www.bread.org (cost is $25). Or you can simply view it online. Please also look over the Study Guide, found by clicking the link at the top of the page. We will use the Study Guide as a springboard for our next discussion.

Let's Talk Bread- Thurs, Jan 22 2009

Global Development, Poverty and US Foreign Assistance

We'll discuss these and related matters at the next Let's Talk Bread discussion group to be held at 7:30PM on Thurs, Jan 22 at United Lutheran Church in Oak Park. The church is located at 409 Greenfield Street (Greenfield and North Ridgeland, two blocks south of the Ridgeland-North Avenue intersection).

For background, we are encouraged to read the Executive Summary and Chapters 2 and 3 of Bread for the World's 2009 Hunger Report and Oxfam's Foreign Aid 101. If you have not completed the readings, don't let that deter you from attending.

Let's Talk Bread is a Chicago-area group that promotes regular conversations about poverty and hunger. For more info, contact John (johnrichst@comcast.net) or Rich (rich.liefer@sbcglobal.net)

Sex for Garbage

Sometimes a shocking story (shocking to those living lives of comfort) sweeps around the anti-poverty circles, that succintly highlights the urgent need for aid and advocacy. The last one I featured here was the story about nursing mothers eating mud cakes just to fill their stomachs. Horrible. This next one comes from Bread for the World who has staff traveling abroad in Central America. Here is an excerpt from Brian Duss' experience in Nicaragua...

"Have you ever heard of people trading sex for garbage? In the La Chureca landfill just outside of Managua, children scavenge 100 acres of garbage for anything that can be sold for pennies. Sometimes girls have sex with the truck drivers who dump refuse at the landfill in exchange for bottles or aluminum cans -- instead of the 20 cents they might otherwise get. What can you even do with information like that? Seriously. Well, a good first step would be to write your senators and representative in Congress and let them know that you want them to make foreign assistance a priority. "

Read the entire entry here

Their trip is still going on, so you can check into the Bread blog at www.breadblog.org to see what other countries they visit and what they are up to.

Let's Talk Bread- Chicago Dec 2

NOTICE FOR 2ND MEETING

Let’s Talk Bread

Extreme poverty. Microfinance. Foreign aid. Charity vs. self-help. Public vs. private.

These are just some of the subjects likely to be pursued at the next meeting of the Let’s Talk Bread discussion group on Dec. 2 in Oak Park. “The Bottom Billion,” a book by Paul Collier (under $10 on Amazon.com or free at your library) and a series of articles in the Christian Science Monitor by Mark Lange (www.csmonitor.com/2008/0310/p09s01-coop.html?page=1) will be the catalyst for this session’s conversation.

Join the conversation at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2 at United Lutheran Church in Oak Park, 409 Greenfield Street (Greenfield and North Ridgeland, two blocks south of the Ridgeland-North Avenue intersection).

Let’s Talk Bread is a Chicago-area group that, guided by Christian convictions, hopes regular conversations—whether centered on a topical book, article or current event—can help illuminate the problems of poverty and hunger and shed light on just which possible solutions hold promise and which do not.

For more information contact John Stumme (johnrichst@comcast.net or 773-777-3907) or Rich Liefer (rl.liefer@sbcglobal.net).