|
| Rev. David Beckmann |
How You Can Help |
|
Learn More About Bread for the World's 2012 Offering of Letters |
by Rev. Eric Anderson
TOLLAND (01/23/2012) -- The United Congregational Church UCC of Tolland continued its practice of observing the Martin Luther King Day weekend by welcoming a leader in justice and peace work to its parish and pulpit. "I'm feeling really upbeat right now; more upbeat than anyone I know," said the Rev. David Beckmann, President of the anti-hunger advocacy organization Bread for the World. After a year when aid to the poor in the Federal budget stood at the edge of the precipice time after time, he marveled, "At the end of the day, what's amazing is that there were no major cuts to programs focused on poor people."
Beckmann addressed both of the January 15 worship services of the Tolland congregation, and spoke to eighty people who stayed for a lunchtime conversation. In the afternoon, a smaller group from UCC and non-UCC churches enjoyed a more intimate discussion with Beckmann and Sarah Rohrer, Bread for the World's Regional Organizer for the northeast. Their visit anticipated by just two days the announcement of Bread's 2012 Offering of Letters campaign, which encourages local church members around the country to write to their Congressional representatives and urge a "Circle of Protection" around programs that help lift vulnerable people out of poverty.
In the 2011 debates over the budget, it was the religious community across the theological spectrum that stepped into the gap to make the case for the Circle of Protection. The United Church of Christ's Mission:1 effort inspired over 37,000 letters to Congress.
Unlike some organizations which try to define and express a vision of the way the world should be, Bread for the World focuses on what can be practically accomplished in the next two to five years. They then organize through their direct supporters and congregational leaders to make it happen. "It's a change machine," said Beckmann. "What can be changed that would provide real opportunity and help to hungry people?"
|
| Afternoon conversation in Tolland, with Associate Pastor the Rev. Judy Medeiros at center. |
"We're asking Christian people and congregations to think about some issues that are pretty obviously important to hungry people," he said, "and then if they're so moved, people can themselves contact their member of Congress in a personal way, and say what they think."
The 2008 financial crisis and resulting recession is visible in a spike in hunger for American families, according to the U. S. Census Bureau. Those numbers stabilized in 2009 and 2010, however, in which Beckmann sees the result of public assistance: Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC), and school lunch programs. "Those families: would they rather have a job?" he asked: "Yes. Nobody likes this situation. But the kids are eating."
Bread also works on foreign assistance issues. They hope for 2012 to see passage of a bipartisan bill that will foster better evaluation systems and more transparency. They also look to further work on reduction on nutrition for children under age 2, a critical period in the development of a child.
Bread for the World’s 2012 Offering of Letters urges members of Congress to create a circle of protection around programs that give hungry and poor people in this country and abroad the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty. Within this broader campaign are four mini-campaigns that address specific legislative topics that will come before Congress in 2012: nutrition, poverty-focused development assistance, tax policy, and food aid.
“Sometimes we wish churches could just do it—make sure the hungry are fed — and stay out of the policy realm. But in some of our cities, over ninety percent of food for poor people comes through federal programs,” said Sharon E. Watkins, President and General Minister, Christian Church Disciples of Christ, in Bread's Offering of Letters appeal. “Food pantries alone can’t fill the gap. As followers of Jesus, we need to lift a voice to our legislators: Protect the programs that put food on our neighbor’s table.”
A trained economist who spent fifteen years working with the World Bank, Beckmann is an ordained Lutheran minister. Bread for the World is a collective Christian voice urging our nation's decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad. It is one of the largest organizations in the world dedicated to building the political will to end hunger.
The Rev. Eric S. Anderson is Minister of Communications and Technology for the Connecticut Conference UCC.
