Marie Crise is able to use her SNAP benefits to purchase fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables at the Abingdon Farmers Market in Abingdon, VA. Photo by Laura Elizabeth Pohl.

We need your voice  today! Congress has been proposing more cuts to programs vital to hungry and poor people. The latest is a vote that the House of Representatives will take soon on additional cuts to SNAP and Child Tax Credits.  Call your member of the U.S. House of Representatives today using 1-800-326-4941 and tell them to VOTE NO on the reconciliation bill. Call now or at least, no later than Thursday, May 10.  

The House of Representatives is using a legislative process known as reconciliation for the FY 2013 budget. (Reconciliation reduces the federal deficit by changing mandatory programs such as SNAP. It instructs authorizing committees in Congress to change eligibility requirements or benefit levels to save money.)

This reconciliation bill, which the House of Representatives is about to vote on, will have a devastating impacts on hungry and poor people. Please call your representative now at 1-800-326-4941 and tell them to VOTE NO on the reconciliation bill.

Here are the basic talking points:

• Don’t balance the budget by cutting programs for hungry and poor people.

• SNAP is a lifeline for 46 million vulnerable Americans struggling to put food on the table. Eighty-five percent of SNAP benefits go to families with children, elderly or disabled people.

• The Child Tax Credit effectively lifts millions of children and families out of poverty every year. In 2010, the Child Tax Credit lifted 1.3 million children out of poverty.

If you have more time, you can also use the following points to expand your message:

• Cutting programs that serve poor and vulnerable populations is not the way to reduce our deficits. Congress must take a balanced approach that maintains our commitment to serving those in need. Form a circle of protection around funding for programs for hungry and poor people.

• SNAP efficiently and effectively delivers food assistance to the neediest individuals and families. A recent study confirms that SNAP not only lifts families out of poverty, but also alleviates the depth and severity of poverty.

• The House proposed cuts to SNAP are tantamount to saying that every religious congregation across the United States needs to come up with an estimated extra $50,000 a year for the next 10 years to make up the difference.

• Food banks have seen a nearly 50 percent increase in demand since 2006. Any cuts to nutrition programs will put an even greater strain on charities and churches providing emergency food assistance.

• A parent with two kids working full-time at minimum wage in our country doesn’t earn enough to keep the family above the poverty line. Refundable tax credits, like the Child Tax Credit, boost earnings so working parents don’t have to raise their children in poverty.

• The bill proposes to cut state funding for services that play a critical role in preventing child abuse, increasing the availability of child care, and providing community-based care for elderly and disabled individuals. In 2009, just some of these funds provided adult protective services for well over 500,000 seniors.

Every time Congress proposes these types of harmful cuts to programs for hungry and poor people, we must loudly oppose it. These types of cuts are unacceptable. We need to continue to put the pressure on the House of Representatives.  So please call today.  

Call your representative at 1-800-326-4941 and tell him or her to VOTE NO on the reconciliation bill today!

David Beckmann is president of Bread for the World.

A migrant worker piles cucumbers in Blackwater, Virginia, on the farm of Ricky Horton and Sherilyn Shepard on Monday, July 25, 2011. Photo by Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World.

[This blog post originally appeared on Bread New Mexico.]

Some politicians in Washington are talking about reducing the budget deficit by cutting big holes in our safety net.  So what happens if Congress gets its way and many eligible people are dropped from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps)?  And as an activist in New Mexico, I wonder, how would this affect New Mexicans? It turns out that a significant percent of New Mexicans are experiencing food insecurity, which, according to the USDA, means a lack of access to enough food for an active healthy life for all household members and limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate food.

Food insecure households are not necessarily food insecure all the time. Food insecurity may reflect a household's need to make trade-offs between important basic needs, such as housing or medical bills, and purchasing nutritionally adequate foods.

In Luna County (Deming), food insecurity is a whopping 28.5 percent. And in neighboring Grant County (and Silver City),  where food insecurity is 20 percent.  The rate is close to  18 percent in Catron County and Hidalgo County. Food insecurity is high in southwestern New Mexico.  And it does not get any better as you go east.  The 18 percent rate applies to Sierra, Doña Ana (Las Cruces), Otero Counties.  So we can say food insecurity is high in southern New Mexico.  

But wait a minute. Guadalupe County (Santa Rosa) in eastern New Mexico also has a food insecurity rate of 20 percent, and McKinley county (Gallup) almost 23 percent. And in San Miguel (Las Vegas), Taos, and San Juan (Farmington) Counties, the rate is at about  18 percent.  The rate is only slightly better in Bernalillo County at 16 percent and in Santa Fe County at about 15 percent.  In fact,  the only county in New Mexico where food insecurity is not above 14 percent is Los Alamos County, home to the city in the U.S. with the most millionaires per capita. (Even so, Los Alamos County has a food insecurity rate of 9 percent).

These percentages come from the Map the Meal Gap project conducted by Feeding America, an organization that supports a nationwide network of food banks, including Roadrunner Food Bank.  The map reflects 2009 and 2010 data for every county in the United States, including child food insecurity.  The map will be updated every year with new data.

So how are we to address these dire needs during a time of economic slowdown? Please ask our elected representatives in Washington and Santa Fe and those who seek to represent us to strengthen, not reduce, the safety net. 

Carlos Navarro is an activist with Bread for the World based in New Mexico. He blogs at Bread New Mexcio.

+Sign a petition against cuts to SNAP!

A Haitian child collects water in a camp for displaced people in Cité de Dieu, Port-au-Prince. UN Photo/UNICEF/Marco Dormino.

"To the wrongs that need resistance, to the right that needs assistance, to the future in the distance, give yourselves."

--Carrie Chapman Catt, women's suffrage leader

Federal nutrition programs have continued to be targeted for cuts this Congress.

In March, the House of Representatives voted on a budget resolution that cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps) by $133.5 billion – nearly 20 percent over 10 years – and recommended turning the program into a block grant. Today, SNAP automatically covers all eligible families, responding as need rises and falls. Under a block grant, SNAP would give a set amount of money to states every year, which would limit the state’s ability to respond quickly to increases in need.

In addition to the House passed budget cuts, the House Agriculture Committee was instructed to find $33.2 billion in savings from agriculture programs by April 27. They found $36 billion in cuts solely from SNAP. If enacted, this proposal would kick approximately 2 million people off the program, reduce monthly benefits for all participants, and most certainly increase hunger and poverty.

On the Senate side, the Senate Agriculture Committee continued efforts this spring to renew the farm bill. The farm bill, which governs federal farm and food policy – including SNAP – presents an opportunity to continue, alter, or discontinue federal farm and nutrition programs. As the largest share of agricultural spending, SNAP has been targeted for cuts in this process. The Senate version of the Farm Bill – the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 – was passed out of committee by a bipartisan vote of 16-5 on April 26. It included $4.3 billion in cuts to nutrition programs. This cut would lead to a drop in SNAP benefits for at least 500,000 SNAP households in 14 states and the District of Columbia.

The House Agriculture Committee continues with farm bill hearings in preparation for releasing their own bill this year. SNAP is expected to continue being targeted for cuts.

Furthermore, the House and Senate Appropriations Committee have begun work on their annual spending bills. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is funded through this process. While the Senate Appropriations Committee has provided WIC with $7.041 billion – enough to cover current and projected caseload – this is only the first step in the funding process. As Congress continues searching for savings, WIC remains at risk.

 Photo caption: (From left) Kate Hagen, Beth and John Lepinski, Laura Gerstl, Todd Post prepare to visit Congressional representatives during Lobby Day at Bread for the World's Gathering 2011 Tuesday, June 14. Photo by William Johnson.

Christine Meléndez Ashley is policy analyst at Bread for the World.

+Tell your member of Congress to protect funding for programs that help poor and hungry people!

Photo by Flickr user silent shot

The dramatic cuts of $169 billion to SNAP proposed this year in the U.S. House would have a devastating impact on all of our congregations’ efforts to address increasing need. 

Every church across America would need to come up with, on average, an extra $50,000 dedicated to feeding people — every year for the next 10 years — to make up for these cuts.

Sign our petition now to say feeding hungry people is not the sole responsibility of churches.  Here’s what a few people who have already signed the petition shared with us:

• “My church is situated in a community of high need in Los Angeles County. Our church's Food Pantry already serves over 400 people per week out of a garage. We are already at the breaking point! The need is real and raw. We absolutely cannot do this without the help of our elected leaders!”
      — Daniel in Bellflower, CA

• “Our area churches are already collecting and handing out food in massive amounts simply to SUPPLEMENT those on SNAP and yet the shelves run empty time and time again. This is not a time for cutting programs that affect our most vulnerable, but a time to stand in solidarity with them.”
      — Katherine in Arlington, VA

• "2,000 folks per month pass through one of our ministries in Gary, IN, homeless and without food. This would be devastating both to them and to us. We are barely making it now.”
      — Bob in Donaldson, IN

We have to tell Congress — and tell them again and again — that they must create a circle of protection around programs that are vital to hungry and poor people. And then we must pray hard that they will listen to their conscience as upright, moral persons of faith.

Thank you for your voice!

Margaret M. Kimmins, OSF is a Catholic Sister working at Bread for the World, and president of the Franciscan Action Network.

+Tell Congress to protect funding for programs such as SNAP. Sign the petition today!

Photo by Flickr user by visual.dichotomy

Last week, we shared with you that the House of Representatives just proposed to cut more than $169 billion from SNAP, formerly the food stamps program. Some representatives argued that feeding hungry people is really the work of the churches.

These representatives are essentially saying that on average every church across America — big, small, and tiny — needs to come up with an extra $50,000 dedicated to feeding people — every year for the next 10 years — to make up for these cuts. Bread for the World launched a petition and asked everyone to sign on and tell Congress that churches cannot be the only ones responsible for feeding hungry people.

Thousands of people signed the petition, and many shared their own stories and comments. Here are comments that some of you left:

"A good number of our students at Ancilla College have an expected family contribution (EFC) of $0.00.  Some of them rely on SNAP for food for themselves and sometimes for their families (non-traditional students).  In their effort to better themselves and thus be better prepared to make contributions to society [they] need the support of SNAP." --Carleen from Donadlson, IN

"Alfred Parish UCC is already sending a lot of food through 2 different feeding programs and providing a monthly free meal to people who come through the doors.  We don't have the means to 'pick up' and do the kind of work that our Federal Government can do.  The SNAP Program must be continued." --Bruce from Alfred, ME

"As a small church in the middle of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, we are inundated with needs all around us. The proposed cost is more than we pay our full-time minister for compensation, the only full-time staff we have. We contribute to multiple charities that distribute food to those who are in need in order to insure the best stewardship of our resources. And, yet, we are still not able to meet all of the needs, these cuts will overwhelm us." --Sarah from Arlington, TX

"As program manager of the Northeast Emergency Food Program of the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, we serve 11,000 unduplicated individuals each year.  We do so through a wonderful partnership of congregations, businesses, individuals, other nonprofits, and the government.  In the past three years, the number of our clients has increased by over 40%.  There is no way we can make up for either the loss of food provided by the USDA or the influx of clients who would lose benefits such as SNAP.  And there is no way our church partners could fill the gap." --Howard from Portland, OR

"Feeding the hungry is not a choice -- it is a moral imperative. But the food pantries and soup kitchens in this area funded by the generosity of church members already are serving those in need at capacity and beyond in these tough economic times.  We are doing our part.  We expect that our government will do the same." --Alexandra from Troy, NY

"It is a sign of a healthy country when the government cares for its poor.  It is a sign of an abuse of power when the government determines that only the religious communities are responsible for caring for its poor.  The move to cut billions from funding that will care for the poor will show the world that the leaders of the US care only about power, dominance and control.  We stand at risk of losing our way, our heart, our very notion that all are created equal and ought to have equal access to meeting basic needs." --Jan from Raleigh, NC

Thanks to everyone who signed this petition -- and if you haven't yet, join your voice with thousands of other people of faith who believe that we must all work together to end hunger.

SIGN THE PETITION TODAY!

Jeannie Choi is associate editor at Bread for the World.

A Liberian girl sits on her mother's lap during church. Photo by Laura Elizabeth Pohl.

As a 21-year-old woman in the United States, I have many opportunities to share my opinions, ideas, and thoughts.  Sadly, many women and girls live in countries where they are not allowed to speak their minds -- places where their freedom of speech is repressed. However, organizations such as the G(irls) 20 Summit are working to change this as they invite young women, ages 18 to 20, from around the world to voice their opinions as they gather to freely discuss issues relevant to them and their countries. 

A delegate from each of the G-20 countries and the African Union are selected to participate in the event. At the G-20 Summit, the leaders of powerful countries discuss global economics and the policies that govern them. The girls invited to attend the G(irls) 20 Summit will have a similar agenda. The delegates discuss innovative ideas that will help empower girls and women globally. While the agenda is the same for the G20 Summit and focuses on economic advancement, all of the participants are girls. What an amazing opportunity for these young women! It is such a wonderful chance for them to make a difference despite their youth, race, or gender.

As an intern at Bread for the World, I see first-hand the importance of economic stability in order to break the shackles of hunger and poverty.  As a woman, I also understand how a society’s treatment of women can affect its economy. When women are respected and educated, poverty decreases.  As Elizabeth Gibbons said in a speech several years ago, “Education for girls is the key to the health and nutrition of  populations; to overall improvements in the standard of living;  to better agricultural and environmental practices; to higher Gross National Product; and to greater involvement and gender balance in decision-making at all levels of society.”  Although great strides are being made around the globe to provide equal opportunity for women, there is more work be done.

Bread for the World is proud to partner with the G(irls) 20 Summit this year. One of the issues the young women will be discussing is food security. Nearly 1 billion people in the world don’t get enough to eat and many of them are women and children. Food insecurity is also very closely linked to malnutrition, which is a key issue for Bread for the World. Children, especially those younger than 2, are at special risk of hunger and malnutrition. The 1,000 days from pregnancy through a child’s second birthday are the most crucial for a child’s development. But many women around the world don’t have access to proper nutrition for themselves or their children. Without proper nutrition during this critical period, children can suffer permanent cognitive and physical delays.

Even though I won’t be attending the G(irls) 20 Summit, I’m still planning to support people intent on changing the world, one girl at a time.           

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

Neelum Chand carries her son, Shuvam, 1, through the Nutrition Rehabilitation Home (NRH) in Dhangadhi, Nepal, after lunch on Sunday, April 29, 2012. The NRH, a project of the Rural Women's Development and Unity Centre, a Nepali NGO, works to restore malnourished children to health. Forty-one percent of Nepali children under age 5 are short for their age (stunted), according to the preliminary 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey. Stunting is an indicator of malnutrition, and ensuring children are properly nourished in the 1,000 days between pregnancy and age 2 are vital to a child's development. Photo by Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World

The circle of protection isn’t just a symbol for retired Pastor Jim Anderson; it is a promise to a friend who is an HIV positive AIDS orphan living a continent away. Now, the circle of protection is my promise too.

Earlier this year, Christians in Portland, OR, braved a rainy day to show support for the circle of protection.  Pastor Anderson carried a sign that had a circle around a picture of a young boy from Tanzania named Eliya. 

The day before Portland's Offering of Letters workshop, I received an email from Jim. He said he was extremely jet lagged, having just returned from Tanzania, but he would like a minute to address our members.

Jim told us the story of Eliya.  Globally funded anti-retroviral (ARV) medicines and nutritious supplements such as plumpy nut have saved Eliya’s life.  He told us about the compassionate care-givers in a Catholic-run program helping children like Eliya.  From them he learned that his own tax dollars helped provide global funds keeping these children alive and flourishing.  He also learned that potential cuts were very worrisome for the care givers who saw the lives that were daily affected.  In his blog post, Jim writes,

“I was thrilled to be able to assure Father Vincent that he did not battle alone. In America there are battalions of caring people who write letters to their senators and representatives, urging that they work to maintain a circle of protection around programs that make up the U.S. contribution to poverty-focused development assistance, including the Global Fund, PEPFAR, and other programs aimed at reduction of disease, malnutrition, and poverty.”

The Senate Agriculture Committee considers amendments this week on food aid in the Farm Bill.   Now Eliya is in my circle thanks to Pastor Jim, and I will be advocating for a circle of protection around lifesaving food aid.  If you have a member of Congress on the Committee, your voice is particularly important, so please take three minutes to call your member for Elyia or another picture and another story in your circle.

Call your member of Congress at 1-800-326-4941, or click here to send them a quick email.

Robin Stephenson is a regional organizer at Bread for the World.

Photo caption: Eliya (left) and Rev. Jim Anderson (right) sit together in Dodoma, Tanzania.

+Learn more about our mini-campaign on international food aid programs!

Kaleda Begum holds her friend's child Adia Akter (left), 17 months, and  her own daughter, Akkee (right), 18 months, in Char Baria village, Barisal, Bangladesh, on Thursday, April 19, 2012. These children are healthy and overall the rate of stunting fell among Bangladeshi children from 51 percent to 43 percent between 2004 and 2007, according to USAID. However, more than 10 million children under age 5 suffer from malnutrition in Bangladesh. It's an issue being addressed by the Bangladeshi government and donor partners incuding the United States. Photo by Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World