When Congress leaves town for their annual summer recess, Bread for the World doesn’t slow down our advocacy – we just shift its geography.
Bread’s faith-based, anti-hunger grassroots network shines all year, but especially in August. It’s one prong of our time-tested advocacy strategy: in-district relationship building + in-DC advocacy + smart policy analysis + media and community/coalition engagement = political will that leads to policy change.
Our impact against hunger simply would not be possible without grassroots activism across the country. Today, I want to tell you about Bread advocate Makensie L. Brown.
Makensie, from Jasper, Alabama, came to Bread’s June Advocacy Summit for the first time this year. She deeply connected with the issues, Bread’s theory of change, and the experience of meeting with her representative – and it inspired her to the point of action. When she sought a second meeting with her Congressman Robert Aderholt in August, this time in Alabama while he is in-district, she shared with him how much an expanded, permanent Child Tax Credit would change the conversations she has every day with families trying to stretch tight budgets at the Jasper Family Resource Center. Because of Makensie Brown, Representative Aderholt heard firsthand about the lived experience of people in his district and how the programs that Bread advocates for can help.
We have more than 75 in-district meetings planned for the end of summer.
They aren’t just with members of Congress, like Makensie’s; some of the meetings are listening sessions, where Bread is seeking input into the Nourish Our Future campaign.
Deeply understanding the needs, challenges, and aspirations of people across the United States who want to help end childhood hunger is the foundation for all our work next year.
I’m grateful to Makensie and thousands of anti-hunger advocates and faith leaders like her across the United States who are moved by God’s grace to work for an end to hunger.
Seven hundred and thirty-three million people experienced hunger last year, according to the just released State of Food Security and Nutrition report. That’s 1 in 11 people around the world, and 1 in 5 in Africa.
I don’t want to mislead you. Pursuing a world without hunger is not easy. It might seem unlikely that we might have the power to feed so many. But there is enough food, enough money, and the right experience-based know-how to get it done. We just need faith, courage to act, and the political will.
If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to get involved in in-district advocacy today. In fact, I need you to get involved. Our elected officials make decisions that have a tremendous impact on people experiencing hunger – both in our country and around the world. Write your organizer or visit www.bread.org/vote to learn more.
In the Bible, Old Testament law established a structure for society with deep, divine concern for people who experience poverty and disapproval of systems that do not dignify God’s people and places them in conditions of hunger and poverty. As Paul exercised his power as a Roman citizen, so too can Christians advocate for government to protect and provide for all its people (Acts 21-26).
I hope you will find a way to use your voice this fall to accept God’s invitation to gather and share the blessings of God’s table with all of God’s children.
