Dear Hunger Action Congregations,
I hope you and your congregation are doing well. And I hope you personally have had or will have the chance to revitalize your spirit – at least a bit! – during the summer. The challenges aren’t letting up, so we need to find our peace and strength in our faith, in ourselves, and in each other. May we summon our courage and be encouraged and encourage each other!
Towards that end, let us gather once again in September for a HAC Roundtable Gathering where we can continue our conversations about hunger, poverty and injustice in our communities. We will share stories and dialogue about faithful action, successes, and challenges in responding to the needs of our communities. In the last Roundtable, there was energy around the topic of “finding money” to carry out or expand our ministries. So, we will make some time for that as well. Please send ideas for the agenda!
WHEN?
Friday, September 10 at noon 12:00PM (EDT) / 11AM (CDT) / 10AM (MDT) / 9AM (PDT)
Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/94896206284?pwd=RHVpY3ZwclQweUNtZ0d4eUhPY1NtZz09
And now for the updates…
SAVE THE DATE!
Food Week of Action – Oct. 10-17
The Global Food Week of Action includes World Food Day (Oct. 16), International Day for Rural Women (Oct. 15), and International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (Oct. 17). We envision a world where everyone has enough affordable, healthy, and culturally appropriate food where no one is hungry, and where all who work in the food chain are fairly-compensated, respected and celebrated!
Join with churches and groups around the U.S. and world in local, national, and international action to help end hunger!
Jump onboard by becoming one of the co-sponsors of Food Week. Last year we had seven Presbyterian congregations and two presbyteries co-sponsor. LET’S DOUBLE THAT THIS YEAR! Just email andrew.kangbartlett@pcusa.org saying you’d like to co-sponsor. There is no cost – just a pledge to promote and celebrate the week as you wish to raise up the important work of fighting hunger and its underlying causes. See www.pcusa.org/foodweek and look for updates to the webpage by the end of August! Co-sponsors will receive periodic updates with worship, educational resources and action ideas.
Preventing Evictions and Homelessness
We are very relieved that the Evictions Moratorium was extended until early October. But October – and colder weather – will be here before we know it. Are you considering the impact ending the moratorium will have on low-wealth renters? Is your congregation thinking about or attempting to address this issue? Please let me know what you or others in your community are doing or planning? Thanks!
You may wish to use and share this information from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB recently developed a new “Rental Assistance Finder” tool for renters and landlords. The tool is now live at here. The CFPB’s site also includes resources to help renters and landlords understand other resources to help navigate various financial hardships related to the pandemic. For additional information about the Emergency Rental Assistance program, visit the unified federal housing assistance portal hosted by the CFPB, click.
In case you missed this great session with Rev. Dr. Wilson Dickinson, it’s not too late! Check out Wilson’s provocative and timely message!
Green Gospels: Christ’s Path to Environmental Justice
The Gospels hold visions and practices that empower followers of Jesus Christ to cultivate economic and ecological justice. Yet, we often don’t realize this. In this webinar Rev. Dr. Wilson Dickinson will introduce an environmental justice perspective on the stories of Christ, drawing upon his recent book, The Green Good News: Christ’s Path to Sustainable and Joyful Life. Christ’s vision of covenantal renewal and his liberative teaching through parables opens a way forward for those longing for justice and the healing of creation. In this webinar we will explore this path by chewing on scripture and thinking about how to find our place in the work of justice and social change.
Video of 60-minute webinar
Thanks always for your work in the world!
We look forward to hearing your voices and seeing your faces (yes, 2-dimensional, but we can bring our spirits even through zoom if our intention is clear!) on September 10th.
Stay well, stay strong, stay the course!
Best and blessings,
andrew
P.S. Our PHP Post – which tackles environmental racism – is hot off the press! Here’s what’s inside…
- PHP and Decolonizing Wealth
- Global racism, Colonialism, and White Supremacy
- Deep Links Between Racism and Climate Change
- Reparations Cannot Wait
- Resource Extraction and Racism
- We Take a Matthew 25 Stand
Download the PHP Post! & you can also download the centerspread poster on Environmental Racism
P.P.S. And here is a ‘bonus’ article about community fridges that I thought you’d find interesting…from my favorite magazine, Yes!
There Is Enough Food, Just Not Enough Access
BY MIKE DE SOCIO
Jammella Anderson kneels beside a bright pink refrigerator on a sidewalk in Albany, New York, stocking its shelves with fresh loaves of bread and heads of lettuce—food that is free for the taking. A passerby stops to ask how to donate. She tells them where and how to sign up to give veggies, dairy, or prepared meals. They continue walking, then double back and ask Anderson whether they can donate the stale contents of their apartment fridge ahead of a move. The answer is an emphatic “no.”
To Anderson, the question epitomizes the problem she’s trying to solve as founder of Free Food Fridge Albany: A prevailing attitude that poor, Black, Indigenous, and people of color, as well as others who disproportionately face food insecurity, deserve only leftovers, day-old bread, or scraps. The Free Food Fridge flips that idea on its head.
“This is all fresh food from the earth that people who are going food-insecure should be able to have.”