Activist Corner
Welcome to the Activist Corner. We update this page regularly with the latest information, tools, and resources, so make sure to visit weekly.
Act Now
Offering of Letters
- Call (800-826-3688) or email your members of Congress and urge them to address growing hunger at home and abroad by making the one-year extension of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) permanent and also increase U.S. leadership and funding for global nutrition programs.
- Globally, hundreds of millions of people are on the brink of starvation. And levels of U.S hunger are now higher than during the Great Depression.
For more information on this issue:
Watch for action alerts. For additional talking points, contact organizing@bread.org or call 800-822-7323.
2021 June regional online meetings
Bread for the World regional organizers hold quarterly regional online meetings to update and equip our members and to introduce Bread to those who are new. In these meetings, you will learn about the status of our Offering of Letters and current legislative priorities, hear from and connect with Bread members in your region, and consider timely action steps you and your group can take to advocate for an end to hunger.
Register below for your next regional online meeting—and bring a friend! Please note the time zones.
Midwest Regional Online Meeting
(IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)
Hosted by Nicole Schmidt and Zach Schmidt on Tuesday, June 8 at 1 p.m. (ET).
West Regional Online Meeting
(AK, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY)
Hosted by Clark Hansen on Tuesday, June 8 at 1 p.m. (PT).
Northeast Regional Online Meeting
(CT, DE, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT)
Hosted by Rev. David Street on Wednesday, June 9 at 4 p.m. (ET).
Southeast Regional Online Meeting
(AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV, DC)
Hosted by Rosa Saavedra and Florence French on Thursday, June 10 at 3 p.m. (ET).
Southwest Regional Online Meeting
(AZ, NM, OK, TX)
Hosted by Lupe Conchas on Friday, June 11 at 12 p.m. (MT)
We encourage you to register for your regional meeting even if you are unable to attend. This ensures you will receive the recording and follow-up information.
If you have questions, contact organizing@bread.org or call 800-822-7323.
Activists in Action
The Dignity in Growing Food
By Robin Stephenson
Mago Reyes is an extraordinary woman with an extraordinary story.
Brought to America at 15 by her then husband, Reyes spent her teens working two jobs. While most young girls her age were fretting over school exams, Reyes’ went to work early every morning, bending over a row of fruit or vegetable in an Oregon field. Her second shift, from 2 p.m. to midnight, was at a lunch cart.
Fast-forward eighteen years, three children, domestic violence, and a divorce later; I meet her in another Oregon field. But this time the plants belong to her.
Reyes rents about an acre of land nestled alongside a busy highway in Cornelius, Oregon. At farmers markets and through a CSA program connected to Adelante Mujeres, an organization that empowers Latinas, Reyes is able to sell what she grows.
Reyes Family Produce—the business she started in 2018—is slowly growing. She dreams of owning her own land one day.
Raising three boys on her own, she still works a second job to make ends meet but doesn’t complain. The pride she exudes while discussing her plants, her plans, and the various ways she is educating herself about farming, is inspiring.
This is a woman who, like her carefully tended plants, is flourishing.
Agriculture is one constant in Reyes’ life. Corn, bean, and watermelon fields surround the close-knit community of San Estaban, Atatlahuca, where Reyes grew up in Mexico—but so does poverty.
Lack of education and employment pushed many young people like Reyes to migrate in the late 1980s, when it is estimated that over half the population was living on less than $2 a day.
“I had barely left middle school when I got married,” Reyes says. “There was no other school; no way to continue studying there.
For many children in rural Oaxaca, six years of schooling is standard, and Reyes made it to nine. Girls are expected to raise children and so education is not a priority. Child marriage—not banned in Mexico until 2014—was common in Oaxaca.
Farmworkers face discrimination and low wages on both sides of the border. In the United States, field workers, especially those who are undocumented, don’t earn enough to meet their own basic nutritional needs.
The opportunity that pushed Reyes to the United States was elusive until she qualified for programs that gave her a foothold in the economy. She is now a permanent resident. During the tough times, Reyes relied on food stamps to feed her children, something she is proud she no longer needs.
“I didn’t want to depend on food stamps,” she said, thanking God for her economic stability. “Now, I always have vegetables in my garden.”
Robin Stephenson is senior manager for digital campaigns at Bread for the World.
More Resources: Activist Tool Kit
The Activist Tool Kit is intended for new and current Bread grassroots hunger activists. It provides a set of how-to sheets for carrying out advocacy and fact sheets on the current issues Bread for the World is working on.
It's ideal as a starter toolkit for new Bread activists or as a set of updates for current activists. Form your own toolkit by printing out some or all of the sheets in the kit.
How-tos:
- How to Conduct an In-District Meeting with a Member of Congress (or the Staff)
- Effectively Using Public Meetings to Engage with Members of Congress
- Writing a Letter to the Editor of Your Local Newspaper
- Conducting an Offering of Letters
Issues-related pieces:
- Hunger and Poverty State Fact Sheets
- Fact Sheet: Why We Need $150 Million for Global Nutrition Programs
- Hunger by the Numbers (2017)
- Fact Sheet: Fortified for Life. How the U.S. Government Supports Global Nutrition
- Briefing Paper: A Multi-Sectoral Approach to Nutrition. Assessing USAID’s Progress
- Poverty-Focused Development Assistance (PFDA) 101
- The McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program
- Getting to Zero Hunger by 2030: Race, Poverty, and Hunger
- Mass Incarceration: A Major Cause of Hunger
- Border Policy: Addressing Root Causes of Hunger and Immigration
- Fact Sheet: Hunger and Poverty in the Indigenous Community
- Fact Sheet: Hunger and Poverty in the African American Community
- Fact Sheet: Hunger and Poverty in the Latino Community
Biblical resources:
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Please let us know what suggestions you have for this page and how we can assist you. Email us at organizing@bread.org or call 800-822-7323.
Tools
from our Resource Library
For Education
FAQ: Hunger Crisis in Afghanistan
Afghanistan would be considered likely to have high rates of hunger because at least two of the major causes of global hunger affect it—armed conflict and fragile governmental institutions.
Global Malnutrition Fact Sheet 2021
Malnutrition is responsible for nearly half of all preventable deaths among children under 5. Every year, the world loses hundreds of thousands of young children and babies to hunger-related causes.
MEMO ON THE HIGH RETURNS OF INVESTING IN A 1,000 DAYS INFRASTRUCTURE
Bread for the World is calling on the Biden-Harris administration and Congress to build a better 1,000-Days infrastructure in the United States.
For Faith
Finding Hope, Ending Hunger on Both Sides of the Border: A Bilingual Latino Devotional
Devotional writers challenge us to feel the Spirit of God within us and to hear God’s urgent call to demand justice so all can put food on the table.The Bible on Health as a Hunger Issue
“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in faith.” These words from Colossians 2:6 remind us of the faith that is active in love for our neighbors.
The Bible on...
Faith Leaders' Unity Declaration on Racism and Poverty
A diverse body of Christian leaders calls on the churches and Congress to focus on the integral connection.
For Advocacy
Fact Sheet: Coronavirus (COVID-19) and SNAP
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is designed to respond to changes in need, making it well suited to respond to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fact Sheet: Why We Need $200 Million for Global Nutrition Programs
Bread for the World and its partners are asking Congress to provide $200 million for global nutrition.
Fact Sheet: Hunger by the Numbers
In 2017, 11.8 percent of households in the U.S.—40 million people—were food-insecure, meaning that they were unsure at some point during the year about how they would provide for their next meal.