Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3) speaks at a press conference about the importance of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, along with (left to right) Elise Gould, Tara Marks, Donna Cooper, and David Beckmann. Photo by Kristen Youngblood/Bread for the World.

While some politicians have attacked the relevance of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) during the ongoing election campaign, today on Capitol Hill a panel of economists, policy makers, and a former food stamp recipient emphasized the life-saving value of the program.

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3) was joined by Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World; Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute; Donna Cooper of the Center for American Progress; and Tara Marks, a former SNAP recipient and activist from Pittsburgh, PA. They all gathered to clarify the importance of SNAP benefits for the American people, particularly during a recession.

“Just like unemployment insurance, food stamps bridge the gap to help families make ends meet,” said Congresswoman DeLauro, a longtime SNAP supporter. “As the economy improves and families get back on their feet, the costs of food stamps will decrease again. This is the entire essence of a social safety net.”

Tara Marks, a longtime Bread for the World supporter, said that she agreed with Rep. DeLauro. Marks’ personal experience with hunger and poverty led her to advocate for policies that will help make a difference for vulnerable people.

 “I know firsthand the benefits of safety-net programs because I was once a recipient,” said Marks. “There were times when I wouldn’t eat so my son could. Fortunately, programs like SNAP were available so that we did not have to go hungry for long.”

Watch this video about Tara Marks, and learn how you can contact your members of Congress about creating a circle of protection around programs that help poor and hungry people.

Jeannie Choi is associate editor at Bread for the World. Follow her on Twitter @jeanniechoi.

Photo by Flickr user Moyan_Brenn

"O God, to those who have hunger, give bread, and to us who have bread, give the hunger for justice."

-Latin American Prayer

I recently listened in on a conference call with David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, and others who are knowledgeable about what is happening in Washington. They said that 2011 was a tumultuous year with many hunger programs in peril of major reductions. Millions of vulnerable people in the U.S. and abroad could have been put in great danger. But then David Beckmann said gratefully, “There have been no substantial cuts in the programs we support,” and expressed his gratitude for grassroots letters and phone calls that have bombarded the offices of members of Congress urging for a circle of protection around programs that help poor and hungry people.

I immediately thought of people I knew who had written some of those letters out of their conviction that cutting deficits and balancing budgets on the backs of poor people is unfair and immoral. I had seen the personal words of those letters, knew they were backed by deep concern and prayer, and now knew those words had been effective! I felt enormous gratitude to have had a small part in that impressive result.

Shortly after that conference call, during a coffee hour at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, I was standing near a young mother whom I had noticed before, when our church conducted our Offering of Letters. I remember she laid down a tiny infant on the table, got a toddler daughter busy doodling on a blank sheet of paper, and sat down to write a letter to Congress. That scene stuck with me, and now I got to talk to her again. She held her little boy, now 8 months old, and her daughter played nearby.

“Oh, hello, you remember us!” she said, and told me that she occasionally visited the Bread for the World website and was especially interested in materials for children. She told me she intended to teach her children about hunger. Then she said almost off-hand, “Oh, and I’ve been writing to Washington and calling, too.” I was stunned. I did not expect that the message had gotten so deep into her soul. I thought about how I’d love to introduce her to David Beckmann and say, “Here’s one very good reason those program cuts didn’t happen.”

David Beckmann and the others who led that conference call made very clear that the battles are far from over. The electoral politics of 2012 will keep poverty-focused foreign assistance and domestic hunger-relief programs in limbo. Sustaining a circle of protection must continue. Bread for the World’s 2012 Offering of Letters calls for four unique emphases during 2012, beginning with the upcoming farm bill, but continuously, in the background, the emphasis will be on the circle of protection.

Some of you reading this blog post may still be considering joining this effort. I assure you it continues to be vitally important—and it’s truly rewarding. I hope you will promote an Offering of Letters at your church or in any caring group you are part of.

+Find out how you can organize an Offering of Letters at your church. Find resources, stories, videos, and more at www.bread.org/OL.

Jim Anderson is a Bread activist in Portland, OR, and retired pastor of the Evangelical Covenant Church. Soon, he will travel to Tanzania to see first-hand the benefits of a circle of protection around poverty-focused development assistance.

Photo caption: A member at Templo Calvario (Assembly of God church) in Santa Ana, CA, writes a letter to Congress as part of Bread for the World's Offering of Letters on Sunday, October 16, 2011. Photograph by Laura Elizabeth Pohl

Jane Sabbi, left, is a farmer in Kamuli, Uganda, and a mother of seven children. In this photo she works in her field with her sister-in-law. Watch a short video about Jane. Photo by Laura Elizabeth Pohl

"Because there is global insecurity, nations are engaged in a mad arms race, spending billions of dollars wastefully on instruments of destruction, when millions are starving. And yet, just a fraction of what is extended so obscenely on defense budgets would make a real difference in enabling God's children to fill their stomachs, be educated, and be given the chance to lead fulfilled and happy lives."

-Desmond Tutu

Young activists like LaToya Brown of New Haven, CT, gathered on the opening day of Bread for the World's 2011 National Gathering on Saturday, June 11, 2011, to advocate on Capitol Hill for poor and hungry people. Photo by Laura Elizabeth Pohl.

It may catch leaders in Washington off guard, but there is a wave of young activists ready to leave their imprint on a broken world.  Many believe that young Christians are too busy living within their own protective bubbles to notice the problems of the world around them.  While this may be true for some, the vast majority of college-aged Christians I’ve met and formed friendships with are on fire with a passion unlike any I’ve ever experienced before.

As a 21-year-old intern at Bread for the World, graduating in May, my possibilities seem endless.  I am idealistic, headstrong, and ready to devote my life to a cause that I believe in – and right now that cause is ending global hunger. This same passion lives in many of my friends, who fight for causes ranging from stopping sex trafficking, to ending the use of child soldiers, to volunteering in local nursing homes and homeless shelters. Lawmakers may think that the youth of this nation are apathetic, lazy kids who really don’t care about anything other than the newest video game, but they are wrong.  We want to make a difference – more than anything we yearn to show Christ’s love to the world. 

These issues keep us awake at night, and inspire us to make a difference. I am haunted by the thought of children going to bed hungry; of families working multiple jobs while struggling to make ends meet; of children facing stunting and challenges to physical development due to malnutrition; and of whole communities ravaged by drought and famine.  

Young Christians are banding together to make their voices heard – to proclaim the good news of Christ’s love but to also put it into action.  In a Reuters article, author Shane Claiborne explains that this new movement is comprised of young Christians seeking a more authentic expression of faith: "'I see an entire generation of young people who want a Christianity they can wrap their hands around.  They don’t just want to believe stuff. They’re saying if you want to know what I believe, then watch how I live.'"

I have found an authentic expression of my faith at Bread for the World where I work to advocate for poor and hungry people in near and distant places.

To my fellow young Christians, I want to challenge you to ask yourself, what is the one cause that makes you impassioned for someone other than yourself? If you haven’t found one yet, I would recommend getting involved with Bread for the World to make a lasting impact on turning the tide of hunger and poverty in America and abroad.  Participating in Bread's Offering of letters is a great way to start advocating on behalf of those less fortunate.  Everyone is called to make a difference.  Find a way to make yours.

Jael Kimball is media relations intern at Bread for the World.

+Find out how you can organize an Offering of Letters at your church. Find resources, stories, videos, and more at www.bread.org/OL.

Photo by Flickr user SidPix

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

-Anne Frank

Amelia Kegan, senior policy analyst at Bread for the World, attended a panel discussion with Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity to discuss how poverty and hunger will affect teh conversations in the upcoming elections.

In an interview, Kegan emphasized that poverty is not a partisan issue:

Poverty really has to be an issue that politicians take seriously and really address. Hopefully we can see that Americans really value and are going to [be] considering and listening for the candidates to address [poverty] through the 2012 elections. In today’s political climate, everything is often times so partisan and so polarizing. As we saw from the panelists today, [poverty] really is an issue that everyone can get behind and everyone should be able to support.

Watch her video interviews with the Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity below and read her reflection on study findings that say 88 percent of surveyed voters said a presidential candidate’s position on poverty is important in deciding their vote, and nearly half (45 percent) said the issue is "very important."

+Learn more about poverty in the United States and how you can take action.

Despite perceptions and suggestions to the contrary, we know that the circumstances that lead people and families to enroll in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) don’t discriminate based on race. And as we profiled earlier, an ever-growing number of families on the program are working.

Add this: Though a breakdown of participation based on political affiliation doesn’t exist to our knowledge, we have no reason to believe that people struggling in this economy are disproportionately Democrats, Republicans, or otherwise. Consider the story of Susie, a 59-year-old Florida woman who lost her business during the recession:

"I am a Republican and a conservative ... and I had to swallow my pride today and come in and apply for benefits for the first time because I'm losing weight," Susie said. 

Even if you brush the moral case for SNAP aside, candidates ought to take note of the sheer political calculus that there’s a growing proportion of the American electorate for whom SNAP is the difference between having just barely enough to eat and going hungry. 

Matt Newell-Ching is a regional organizer at Bread for the World.

Photo caption: Alex Morris feeds her son, André, in their Bend, OR, home. Alex depends on SNAP, WIC and other programs to care for André, who suffers from a serious medical condition that affects his hormonal system. Photo by Brad Horn for Bread for the World.

+Learn more about SNAP and how you can take action.

Photo by Flickr user √oхέƒx™

[This blog post is an excerpt from an article written by Bread for the World board member Gabriel Salguero, president of that National Latino Evangelical Coalition. The full article is available on The Washington Post.]

It may come as a surprise to you to learn that Hispanic evangelicals are a key constituency in swing states. The Jan 31 Florida primary has hastened an all-out blitz for this group’s attention. What do Hispanic evangelicals want from a presidential candidate?

Since our coalition of Latino evangelicals launched a national voter registration campaign, I have fielded multiple interviews about this growing--and increasingly politically influential--demographic. As many have noted, historically, Hispanic evangelicals are social conservatives that simultaneously advocate for issues of justice for the most vulnerable. Anyone who ignores this reality, particularly in swing states like Nevada, Florida, Colorado, New Mexico and Ohio, has not understood this emerging and increasingly vocal group. As a group, we are quintessential independent voters.

In 2004, George W. Bush won the majority of Hispanic evangelicals and in 2008 Barack Obama won that vote by a slim majority. Now in 2012, politicians, pundits, and prognosticators want to know which way we will lean. I’d like to recommend a way forward.

Hispanic evangelicals are not a monolith. Moreover, it would be the height of hubris for anyone to claim to speak for the 10 million or so Latino evangelicals. I personally agree with David Neff of “Christianity Today” that we as evangelicals should resist the temptation to try to be kingmakers. There is much seduction in the “will to power” and we should run away as fast as they can from this temptation. Martin Luther King, Jr. was correct, when he wrote: “The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, it must be the guide and critic of the state and never its tool”(Strength to Love, 1963). Hispanic evangelicals should simultaneously bring moral and public pressure to bear on behalf of legislation we feel is consonant with our conscience and convictions. Our community should work hard to develop our own national agenda that holds all candidates accountable. In short, we should shy away from endorsing candidates --while backing agendas that are consonant with our worldview.

So what are Hispanic evangelicals passionate about? In 2012, many Latinos in Pentecostal and evangelical congregations have divided allegiances. On the top of their mutual agendas is humane, common sense immigration reform. This is a moral and family values issue. We take “welcome the stranger and love your neighbor” seriously. We are looking for legislation that provides an earned path to citizenship and keeps families together. This type of legislation has been endorsed by presidents from Reagan to Obama and yet nothing has changed. Both parties have lacked the political will to make policy changes that will impact Latino families in profound ways. 

To say Latino evangelicals are disappointed by this inaction is a severe understatement. Moreover, the rhetoric by some GOP candidates to veto a DREAM Act or to not provide a path to earned citizenship for the 12 million illegal and undocumented immigrants is raising the ire of many Latino pastors. Our message to the GOP is to stop the anti-immigrant rhetoric. Meanwhile, this present administration’s spike in deportations has left us disillusioned with the left. In short, Hispanic evangelicals want real solutions now and they want both parties to be accountable.

On the social issues Latino evangelicals overwhelmingly hold to a pro-life and pro-marriage platform. This is no secret. Latino evangelicals have historically been social conservatives on the issues of marriage and what Catholics call a “seamless garment” of life. This means that many Latino evangelicals advocate for a broad agenda that protects children--both before birth and after. We are thoroughly concerned about the health of the most vulnerable.

While Hispanic evangelicals are for the most part social conservatives, they also value the power of good governance on behalf of the ones Jesus called, “the least of these.” Many Hispanic evangelicals, myself included, signed-on to the Circle of Protection to protect programs for the poorest and most vulnerable in our country. In addition, we realize that the global economic recession has displaced thousands of Latinos from homes in the foreclosure crisis. Latinos look for a government that understands that among the things the Constitution calls for is that the government “promote the general welfare.” This is at the heart of Latino evangelicals’ advocacy for anti-poverty programs at home and abroad, immigration reform, and educational equity. Pew researchers have said that Latino evangelicals are “big government social conservatives.” I would say we are people who seek the common good. ...

[Keep reading this article on The Washington Post.]

Gabriel Salguero is a board member at Bread for the World and president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.