Farm Bill is here...

Thanks go out to so many of you who studied the farm bill and contacted your congressman about this important piece of legislation. As many of you know, all reform amendments were defeated late last week, including the Grassley/Dorgan amendment.

So, Holly H from Bread Blog asks...Where do we go from here? She has a couple of suggestions that are worth pursuing:

1) Learn more about how your member of congress voted and why.

2) Take Action. Get Fired Up!
Send your senators holiday cards, either expressing your gratitude for their support of a fair farm bill or expressing your disappointment that they blocked much-needed reforms that would have benefited hungry people. (Here is a release from David Beckman- is your senator on the list?)

Farm Bill mark up

Here is some information from Matt Newell-Ching, Western Regional Organizer from Bread for the World.

...there’s a good likelihood that a farm bill committee markup will take place next Wednesday, 10/23. Our analysts in DC are working hard to figure out the specifics of the plan and what kinds of recommendations we would like to see, and what kind of pressure we’ll need to put on Senators Salazar, Baucus, and Crapo (and other Ag Committee Members). So for now, ...feel free to keep making phone calls with message of reform, and expect to hear soon about what specific proposals we may be calling about. The 800 number is still active: 800-826-3688.

SO- Ask Senators Salazar and Nelson to reform the farm bill in the committee to:

• provide a safety net for all farmers-not just those who grow program crops,
• adequately fund vital needs in nutrition programs, rural development and conservation.

Look for more information at the upcoming Presbytery meeting!

CROP Walk successes!

The front range and Nebraska have completed several CROP walks in recent weeks. My son Alex and I were able to attend the BOULDER crop walk with some folks from Longmont Central Presbyterian Church. The walk raised over $43,000 with only 270 walkers this year. Would love to hear how the other walks did- please leave me a comment so we can all find out! I hope you were amazingly successful!

More CROP info...

The 22nd Annual Boulder CROP Walk will be held October 14th with a 1:15 registration and 2pm start.

This year's goal is to to exceed 450 walkers and $50,000.

Benefits will go to Community Food Share, Church World Service and Bread for the World.

For more information on signing up to walk, contact Suzanne Dysard, 303-530-0411, cropwalksuz@att.net

If you have more information about any of the other front range walks- please contact Phil Goerner so he can post here! Thanks!

CROP Walks- Fall is here!

Our churches all have a tremendous opportunity to participate in CROP WALKS to help the hungry! Check it out-

Boulder October 14
Broomfield September 29
Estes Park September 29
Fort Collins October 7
Greeley October 6
LaSalle October 6
Alliance third week in October
Loveland April 1
Windsor October 7

One of the most effective ways for us to help hungry people is to participate in a Crop Walk. This is a fund-raising effort that supports hunger locally, and the relief and development effort of Church World Service nationally and worldwide. Church World Service has long been a first responder to worldwide disasters, pouring immediate aid and relief to victims and those suffering. Additionally, Church World Service remains in disaster stricken areas for years helping to rebuild and lend emotional and financial support to victims. Church World Service is also involved in in other programs too. Please read more about it Church World Service. Also- here are some frequently asked questions.

For more information about how to sign up to participate about these CROP Hunger walks, please contact the Rocky Mountain Church World Service office at 1-888-297-2767.

The farm bill passed the House in late July, and now moves on to the Senate.

Your letters provided insight and (possibly) pressure to force congressional leaders to add provisions to the bill that increase funding for nutrition and conservation programs that will help hungry people and promote environmental stewardship.

Now we have a great opportunity to contact our senators to encourage them to strengthen the bill. There are still many steps in the process of finalizing this legislation. Major farm bill decisions remain to be made in the Senate.

A number of good things have happened-Including the call from the PCUSA Stated Clerk (Clifton Kirkpatrick) joining in a call for farm bill reform.

But we still need your help. Contact your Senator and urge them to take a crucial step in ending hunger over and above what the House bill did.

Please contact me for more information.

Without our voice, Congress would not have given serious consideration to the need for reforms in the farm bill.

Seeds for Change...

Wow- the boys and I are here at the Bread for the World Seeds gathering! Pretty inspiring so far. There are almost a dozen folks here from Colorado- Ft Collines, Durango, Littleton, Longmont, Mead and more! Some great stories - that are being told on the Bread for the World Blog (campus bread) and pictures can be found on Flickr!

My favorite of the day was the afternoon session with SN Hagel (NE) and Harold E Ford Jr. What great gentlemen they are- strong public servants who are advocates for those suffering from poverty and hunger. I'll write more later too!

National Cathedral tomorrow- for the Interfaith Convocation on Hunger. What a conference!

Umuntu Ngamuntu Ngabantu !

The importance of Mothers...
I was preparing for a children's sermon at my home church and the scripture chosen for Mother's day was 2 Timothy 1:4-12. I was rereading vr 5- "I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you."
While researching, I ran across an article by Lamin Sanneh, professor of missions and world Christianity and history at Yale Divinity School. In his paper Naming and the Act of Faith he talks about the critical way our faith is passed from others to us, and connects us as people.
He describes a Bantu proverb Umuntu, ngamuntu, ngabanu - a person is a person because of other persons. "Faith connects us with others" Sanneh says. So when we work with hunger we are profoundly impacting our fellow Christians.
In my work with hunger, I have seen a lot of actions of faith. Speaking truth to power, caring for those suffering injustice and feeding the hungry. If we were Timothy's family, what types of examples of faith would we be showing our grandchildren's children?

Farm Bill update

This year's emphasis for our Public Policy work is to urge our senators and representatives to improve our nation's farm policy so that it better serves hungry people.

Already, our letters and phone calls are working. Bread For the World Regional Organizer Matt Newell-Ching reports that:

Thanks to our communication with our leaders, an Senators Dodd (D-CT) and Smith (R-OR) proposed an amendment to increase the International Affairs budget which would increase the amount of resources available for poverty-focused assistance. This added amendment is a critical one and was supported by over 1,000 phone calls from folks working hard for the hungry.

Let's keep it up! ~HAE

Souper Bowl of Caring update...

Many churches were able to participate in the Souper Bowl of Caring this year. This is an opportunity to collect funds for hungry people and support local mission. A complete report will be presented at Presbytery. But here is a list of participating churches this year. (almost double from last year!)

Central Presbyterian
Milliken Presbyterian
1^st Presbyterian Berthoud
1^st United Loveland
Mountain View Presbyterian Church
Community Church of the Rockies
United Presbyterian Church of the Apostles
1^st Presbyterian Boulder
Westminster Presbyterian Church
Family of Christ Presbyterian Church
Weldon Valley Presbyterian Church
1^st Presbyterian Church Sterling
1^st Presbyterian Church Akron
United Church of Broomfield
1^st Presbyterian Boulder (Children’s ministry)
St Andrews Presbyterian Church
Nederland Community Presbyterian Church

If your church participated, but is not listed- please post your results on the Souper Bowl of Caring website. You can also contact your Hunger Action Enabler. Thanks for all your efforts!

Seeds of Change

Advocacy? You Bet!

Many of you know that contacting your legislative leaders is an extremely effective way to advocate for hungry people.

Working with Bread for the World (a christian citizens lobbying group) is an great way to join other committed people of faith on specific issues. Many of you know that this year the Farm Bill is up for reauthorization. In it are several pieces that will affect hungry people.

Please consider holding an Offering of Letters at your church this spring. Make it a part of worship, or a meeting or even fellowship time. Plains and Peaks Presbytery will be holding theirs as a part of the May 18-19.

Please go to Seeds of Change for more information, or feel free to contact me!

Presbytery follow up!

Many of you know that at each meeting of the Plains and Peaks Presbytery we collect pennies for hunger during our meal times. Even though we only collect a little time, we pray that each gift may help the work that people are doing to make such a difference for hungry in this world. This past meeting our donations went to support the work of Jean Rankin of Sydney NE. She works with students trying to get their GED certificate. While doing so, she often feeds them or provides them with things that they need in order for them to be successful. Out of prayerful gratitude for her work, we donated the proceeds from our most recent Cents-Ability offering to Jean Rankin.

If you have an idea of who might benefit from the Cents-ability offering at St Andrews in Boulder- please contact me!

One Great Hour of Sharing!

By now, most of you are making your way through the promotion and interpretation of the One Great Hour of Sharing offering. There are many nice pieces in the kit this year, but if you need help try the Presbyterian Hunger Program web site. Once there you can click on new resources to order, art to download for your newsletters and bulletins and lots lots more! Please contact me if you need any help!

Christians in Baghdad...

On the video blog Alive in Baghdad, the most current piece is part of an interview with Father Hani Essa, a Christian priest. It is an extremley thoughtful piece that is really worth viewing. I found it interesting...you can hear the gunshots outside of his church as the interview progresses!

He begins by saying that his society has become very complicated "…now things are so mingled, you cannot distinguish between your enemies and your friends. This affects the whole society, whether Muslims or Christians."

I would love to hear what you think of his final comments about the strife within Iraq, and the forces from outside - "In a garden, you can see a lot of flowers, with different colors, and the more colors in the garden the more beautiful it is. Our nation has many colors and beautiful flowers. But I don’t think flowers fight one another saying, “I am better and more beautiful than you.”

Souper Bowl Time!

Brace yourselves sports fans....the SOUPER BOWL is almost upon us.

Yes the Souper Bowl of Caring! It is a youth-led, grassroots movement of caring, often young people joining together to fight hunger and poverty in their communities. It is an ideal way to engage communities of all faiths in the fight against hunger and poverty.

Each year, on or near NFL Super Bowl Sunday, Presbyterian churches join others in their communities asking their members to donate money or cans of food to those in need. That’s not all- on the Saturday before the big game- your students can participate in a Service Blitz, doing volunteer work within your communities.

Since 1990, $33 million has been raised for charities across the country. Last year in the Plains and Peaks Presbytery the youth in 10 churches collected over $1600, collected 600+ and had over 120 service blitz hours.

If you need more information- please contact me!