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The Presbytery of Des Moines |
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Advocacy Workshop & Luncheon Saturday, November 20, 2004
Bread for the World Wahlof opened the seminar with scripture from Nehemiah followed by an overview of facts and statistics concerning both domestic and world hunger. She then explained the United Nations Millennium Development goals to end hunger (see:www.un.org/millenniumgoals/) which are: to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; improve maternal health; achieve universal primary education; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; promote gender equality and empower women;ensure environmental sustainability; reduce child mortality;develop a global partnership for development. The last segment of the seminar covered specific actions that people of faith can take to eliminate both immediate needs and underlying causes of hunger and poverty. Immediate needs can be met through advocacy for or participation in such programs as meal sites, Meals on Wheels, free-and-reduced meal programs in schools, summer lunch programs for children, WIC, food stamps and local food drives and food banks. Other underlying causes which must be addressed to end domestic hunger include raising the minimum wage and providing universal health care, among others. Impacting world hunger requires promoting and providing debt relief, women's rights, family planning, education for young women and land reform in developing nations. Wahlof closed the seminar with information, suggestions and examples for writing letters to congress members. This activity can be accomplished by individuals as well as congregations, groups and other organizations.
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