Bread for the World
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bread for the World is a non-partisan, Christian citizens' movement in the United States to end hunger.
Bread for the World members are organized by congressional district into local networks nationwide. They write, call and visit members of the United States Congress, and generate media attention about national legislation and other efforts that address hunger. Bread for the World staff keep members up-to-date on hunger-related issues and pending decisions.
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[edit] History
In October 1972, a small group of Catholics and Protestants met to reflect on how persons of faith could be mobilized to influence U.S. policies that address the causes of hunger. Under the leadership of the Reverend Arthur Simon, the group began to test the idea in the spring of 1974. By year's end, more than 500 people had joined the ranks of Bread for the World as citizen advocates for hungry people.
In September 1991, the Reverend David Beckmann succeeded Simon as president.[1]
Bread for the World is a founding member of The ONE Campaign—a movement to rally Americans to respond to the global emergencies of extreme poverty, hunger and AIDS.
[edit] Initiatives
Offering of Letters is an initiative by Bread for the World which involves encouraging churches and communities to write letters to U.S. State Senators and Representatives expressing their feelings about world poverty issues and demanding change. Since 1974 the Offering of Letters campaign has focused on a different poverty issue each year; 2007's campaign was called Seeds of Change: Help Farmers End Hunger and aimed to provoke the reform of the U.S. Farm Bill.
[edit] References
- ^ Marshall, Katherine; Marisa Bronwyn Van Saanen (2007). Development and Faith: Where Mind, Heart, and Soul Work Together. Washington, DC: World Bank Publications, p. 146. ISBN 0821371738.
