139 posts categorized "Hunger QOTD"

“I feel very strongly that while we certainly need to cut spending responsibly and get our debt and deficit under control, we shouldn’t do that on the backs of the families and children who can afford it least.”

—Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), on the current fiscal cliff negotiations

"The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children."

—Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian 

Photo: Three-year-old Mary plays near her house in Kamuli, Uganda.(Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World)

"Perhaps to genuinely solve our challenges—ending extreme poverty and hunger, advancing real democracy, and ensuring all children survive and thrive—we need to elevate development not only in the board rooms of the private sector and the Situation Room of the National Security Council, but also in the hearts and minds of how millions of people express their own personal quest for meaning."

— USAID administrator Rajiv Shah at a Bread for the World event in November 2012

Photo: Sandesh Rai (leaning forward), 5, and his mom Sapana Rai (in yellow) wait for a health worker from Care Development Organization to conduct a nutrition education seminar in Bandarkharka, Nepal, on Friday, April 27, 2012. (Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World)

"Far from saluting God for our prosperity, genuine thanksgiving generates a deep desire that others may also have enough to meet their needs.  If praying for daily bread means to pray for enough, then surely the implication is that when we have more than enough we will share the 'more' so that others may also have enough. Such sharing is an indication that our hope in Christ is deep and true."

—Bread for the World founder Art Simon, in "Rediscovering the Lord's Prayer"

Photo: Four brothers share a meal in Uganda. (Kendra Rinas)

"In former times, people of faith 'administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouth of lions, won strength out of weakness, and put armies to flight.' In our time, God is calling us to end hunger."

—David Beckmann in the 2013 Hunger Report, "Within Reach, Global Development Goals"

Photo: A young boy plants the rice crop in the village fields of Aileu, Timor-Leste. (UN Photo/Martine Perret)

For me, policy is best when connected to the roots, and roots are best when connected to policy. So I encourage you all to stay connected...and walk with real people while doing the activism. Lord knows we need folks who are engaged.

—Sister Simone Campbell, in a 2012 interview with Bread for the World

No greater irony or injustice exists than the disparity, both in the United States and globally, between the rich and the poor, the overfed and the hungry.

—Donald E. Messner in Ending Hunger Now

"Hope burns anew, thru' the world's despair, when eyes are opened and hearts are moved to care, when we can listen and learn to share, then we might fin'lly turn and see; we are bread for the world, bread for the world, bread for a hungry world."

—Lyrics from "Bread for the World," an original song composed by liturgical composer and singer Marty Haugen in celebration of Bread's 35th anniversary.

Photo: A small child eating a sandwich. (Margaret W. Nea)

After traveling the world, you come home recognizing that Americans are good people with big hearts. We are compassionate and kind, and operate with the best of intentions. But as citizens of a giant, powerful nation—isolated from the rest of the world by geography, as much as by our wealth—it can be challenging for many Americans to understand that poverty across the sea is as real as poverty across the street. We struggle to grasp that huge gap between the wealthy and the poor. While it may be human nature to choose ignorance when it comes to this reality, it's better character to reckon with it honestly.

—Rick Steves, Travel as Political Act

"There is more than enough food to feed the more than 7 billion people around the world, yet hunger and poverty persist on a large scale, even in the United States. Finding solutions to these issues will require the dedication of all leaders—whether they be Republicans or Democrats."

—David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World

Photo: Child enjoying fresh fruit. (Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World)