When Jesus first began his ministry he read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, ”The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19, NSRV

Bread for the World (BFW), is an organization through which people speak out on behalf of those who are hungry. Through my work with BFW, I have learned and have come to appreciate how much can be done to reduce hunger through federal nutrition programs and changes in government policies. As late as the 1960’s, severe malnutrition on par with that found in the developing world existed in the United States. After this was brought to the attention of national policymakers, federal nutrition programs were developed and expanded. In 1977 physicians again conducted a study of some of the poorest communities in our country and found far fewer grossly malnourished people than had been found 10 years earlier. This fact was attributed to the Food Stamp Program, school lunch and breakfast programs, and other federally sponsored programs rather than any improvement in living standards or decrease in joblessness.

I became active with BFW in 1976. During my early years, I spent a lot of time calling representatives and asking them to improve funding for the Food Stamp Program, the WIC program, or for increased aid to Africa. We used phone trees as our mode of contact, where each person would call several others to pass the message on to call about a certain issue going through Congress. Now days this contact is done by e-mail.

Currently I serve as the 2nd District Coordinator for BFW and as a member of the St. Louis Chapter of BFW which meets once a month. At these meetings we discuss hunger issues and study the Hunger Report BFW puts out each year. We have made several visits to senators’ offices and had a conference call with aides in Washington. On occasion, our members also write editorials which have been published by the newspaper in the past concerning hunger issues.

We also host a yearly Offering of Letters workshop through which we encourage people to do an offering of letters in their church. People usually present the idea first to their minister, and than to a committee which helps them with the project. BFW provides a kit and also provides church bulletins for the offering. Tables are often set up where people come for coffee between services and people are encouraged to write letters on a specific hunger issue. To learn more, visit the BFW web site at: www.bread.org.

I often pose these questions to others: “If people of faith will not speak out about hunger issues than who will?” “What would things be like if the church had remained silent on child labor, slavery, or the civil rights movement?”

I thank all the individuals and churches of the Central States Synod, ELCA, that have participated in this ministry effort to support people who live in chronic poverty and hunger around the corner and around the world.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
Edmund Burke, January, 1795.

Gayle Lyles, Bread for the World 2nd District Coordinator
Missouri
October 19, 2007

“Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” Hebrews 13:16 (NSRV)