Former Rep. Wilson to travel to Africa

I found this interesting item on Heath Haussamen's New Mexico Politics blog

Former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson is traveling to Africa today to “engage with government ministers and teach candidates and parliamentary staff about communications, constituent service and running elections,” according to a note posted on her Facebook page (Note: You have to be her friend on FB to see the details)

The former congresswoman explained the purpose of her trip in an interview for the Inside the Beltway column by Michael Coleman of the Albuquerque Journal

“While in Sudan, I will be meeting with the Speaker of the Southern Sudan Parliament, conducting training and consultations with their legislators who are involved national security and international affairs matters, training the staffs of legislators on constituent service and communications, and speaking at a women’s leadership conference sponsored by the UN Mission in Sudan and the US Agency for International Development.

“I will also be meeting with the leaders of all of the political parties in Southern Sudan about preparations for elections in 2010 and making sure that election is legitimate.

“In Kenya, I will be meeting with the Minister of State for Defense and members of the Kenyan Parliament involved in national security matters.”

Mr. Haussamen noted that Wilson was invited to make the trip by the International Republican Institute, which is paying for the trip.

Sen. Udall to host Town Hall Meeting on Tuesday

Here is an invitation from Sen. Tom Udall to a town hall meeting on Tuesday, June 30.

Have any questions about what Congress is doing for you? Need help with any federal agency or program? Want to let the Senate know how you feel.

I want to hear from you. I want to extend a personal invitation to a Town Hall meeting I am hosting in Albuquerque. At this meeting, I'll tell you what I'm fighting for and give you an update on what Congress has done this year.

In less than six months, we have secured health insurance for 11 million American children, helped ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work and passed legislation to protect American families from predatory credit card companies. We have also passed an economic recovery package that will create 22,000 jobs in New Mexico and invest more than $600 million in New Mexico schools so that our children have the skills to succeed in the future. I want to talk to you about these achievements and the many other challenges that Congress is working to address.

More importantly, I want your feedback and input about the issues that are important to you, your family and the community. Your thoughts and ideas are critically important to me as I represent New Mexico in Washington.

Members of my staff will also be on hand to help anyone who needs assistance with a federal agency. We will also have copies of a New G.I. Bill Benefits Resource Guide, complete with application forms, that I created to help veterans apply for the new education benefits that will start being distributed on Aug. 1. The New G.I. Bill, which I helped pass last year, boosts benefits for post-9/11 veterans. Come see if you qualify.

WHAT: Town Hall Discussion with Senator Tom Udall

WHEN: Tuesday, June 30 at 12:00 PM

WHERE: VFW Post 401 at 2011 Girard Boulevard SE

Clothe the Kids

For the past 10 years, Cintas Corp. and Matthew 25 Ministries have partnered in a clothing drive, appropriately called Clothe the Kids. Dedicated to helping others, Matthew 25: Ministries is an international humanitarian and disaster relief organization helping the poorest of the poor. The organization has an extensive network of volunteers who sort, process, package, deliver and distribute donated items

Through this effort they collect gently used or new clothes, shoes, socks and undergarments for children and youths (ages new-born to 15) to countries like Nicaragua, Jamaica, Haiti, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.

Rene Ronquillo, who works for Cintas, is leading this effort in New Mexico.

"With offices and facilities throughout the U.S. and thousands of partners like myself, this year we are trying to collect 105,000 articles of clothes for this year's "Clothe The Kids" clothing drive. I am leading this effort here in New Mexico for Cintas by reaching out to friends, family and co-workers to join the effort in reaching our goal for this year's clothing drive," says Rene.

Here is how you can help:
What - Gently used or new clothes, shoes, socks and undergarments for ages new-born to 15
When - thru July 1
Where - deliver to Mike Shawver during business hours at the Immaculate Conception Church office or call Rene Ronquillo @ (504)338-5280 for a pick up

Unimaginable

Remember when that popular hamburger operation used to measure its success by the number of hamburgers sold? They numbered in the millions

Now we have a different kind of statistic.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization this week released the sad news that the number of hungry people in the world has reached the 1-billion mark. Here is an excerpt.

One in six people in the world — or more than 1 billion — is now hungry, a historic high due largely to the global economic crisis and stubbornly high food prices, a U.N. agency said Friday.

Compared with last year, there are 100 million more people who are hungry, meaning they receive fewer than 1,800 calories a day, the Food and Agriculture Organization said in a report.

Almost all the world's undernourished live in developing countries, where food prices have fallen more slowly than in the richer nations, the report said. Poor countries need more aid and agricultural investment to cope, it said.

Read the entire article from the Associated Press

A normal response is to get mad and sad about it. It's very easy to shrug it off and go on with our comfortable lives. Another response is to give more money to our charity or relief organization. But we can also start to change the system that provides assistance, especially agriculture development. That check to Catholic Relief Services and Lutheran World Relief is going to provide that needed band-aid. But in the long run, efforts like reforming foreign aid offer an enduring solution.

Praying in Economic Hard Times

The gospel of Christ knows of no religion but social; no holiness but social holiness.

- John Wesley,

from the preface to Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739)

Some of us are lucky to have jobs in these economic hard times.

Many more are not so lucky.

Others are underemployed and not making nearly enough money to support themselves and their families.

We can all pray together, and Immaculate Conception Church (our friendly Jesuit parish downtown) is giving us that opportunity on Sunday, June 28, 4:00-4:45 p.m. And everyone is invited to stay for the 5:00 p.m. Catholic Liturgy (Mass)

The church is located on the corner of 6th St. and Copper, across from the main public library.

Everyone is welcome.

Sponsored by Immaculate Conception Social Justice Ministry
For more information contact Mike Shawver at 247-4271 or ImmConYASJ@gmail.com

Peacecraft Invites You to Celebrate its 20th Birthday!

Congratulations!

Because of your support, Peacecraft will commemorate 20 years of reducing poverty all over the globe.

Please join us in a full day of celebrations on Saturday, June 13, at our store, located at 3215 Central NE. We are planning to auction bicycles, art, and even a home. Plus we will have a full day of entertainment donated by community members who support our mission. See details below.

For two decades, your patronage, volunteerism and dedication to social justice has made a difference in the lives of children in India, mothers in Ghana, families in Guatemala, and communities worldwide. Your choice to shop with a conscience at Peacecraft has reduced poverty and created peace!

We hope to see you there!
Dawni Bennett
Store Operations and Inventory Manager

Schedule of Events
Bike Auction 11am-4pm
Bid on donated bikes, components, kid's bikes, jogging stollers and more!

Entertainment 12 pm-5pm
12:00: Welcome and Announcements
12:15: Maple Street Dance Space African Dance and Drumming
1:00: Rogue Bindis Tribal Belly Dance
2:00: Fast Heart Mart Folk & Americana Music
3:00: Saving Damsels Native American Rock
4:00: Burning Moonlight Rhythm & Blues Variety

A special thanks to Whole Foods for donating wonderful snacks for our celebration!

Fair Trade Featured in Artwork by Local Artist Becky Gunn!

A series of three paintings will be auctioned to benefit Peacecraft during our party. Each painting represents a certain geographical area and showcases the abundance of Fair Trade in that area.

Bid on this House!

And yes, there are still raffle tickets available for the raffle of this beautiful, 95 year old North Valley adobe home! Hundreds of tickets have been sold, so come on in and get yours for just $100! This benefit raffle will enable Peacecraft to invest in our cooperatives from Ghana to Viet Nam to Chile

It's Unanimous: U.S. Senate likes Bread for the World

On May 21 of this year, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) introduced a resolution in the Senate (S. Res. 157) recognizing Bread for the World, on the 35th anniversary of its founding, for its faithful advocacy on behalf of poor and hungry people in our country and around the world.

Eleven senators co-sponsored S. Res. 157 before it reached the floor on June 2.

Result: Resolution agreed to in Senate without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent.

It's unanimous: The Senate likes us!

Speaking of Bread for the World's birthday, I'm really looking forward to the 35th anniversary dinner on Monday, June 15. The keynote speaker is Maria Otero, president of Accion International.

Maria was chair of Bread for the World's board of directors during most of the years when I was a member of that deliberative body.

Somos Pan para el Mundo

This is the Spanish-language version of "We are Bread for the World"

Ofrenda de Cartas 2009

Bread for the World created a Spanish-language version of this year's Offering of Letters DVD

On Pentecost

Community
is first and foremost a gift of the Holy Spirit,
not built upon mutual compatibility,
shared affection,
or common interests
but upon having received
the same divine breath,
having been given a heart
set aflame by the same divine fire,
and having been embraced by the same divine love.

Henri Nouwen

You are Invited to a JustFaith Workshop on July 18

We are called to be compassionate as our God is compassionate (Luke 6:36), but what does the compassion of Christ look like in the modern world? How do I become a more compassionate person?

Biblical Roots of Justice: A Call to Transform Our Hearts and the World

You are cordially invited to a Saturday workshop exploring the Biblical roots of justice and introducing JustFaith Ministries, an adult faith formation program with a focus on the intersection of faith, spirituality and social responsibility in a world wounded by poverty.

While this workshop, which is sponosored by the Office of Social Justice of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, will have a primary focus on Catholic Social Teaching, there are many elements of the Roman Catholic curriculum that are applicable to the ecumenical version.

The Catholic program had a very good start in its first year in Albuquerque in 2008-2009, and local organizers hope to build on that success in 2009-2010.

Bread for the World-New Mexico would like to promote an ecumenical version here in 2010-2011 (or even 2009-2010). If you're interested, you are cordially invited to join us at this workshop.

Are you interested in embarking on a spiritual journey into compassion? The vision of the Gospels and Catholic social teaching speaks to life-giving choices on behalf of a world that struggles to survive. Don’t miss this opportunity to explore some new possibilities for your life, your church or parish, your heart!

When: Saturday, July 18, 2009 8:30 am - 3:15 pm
Where: Shrine of St. Bernadette parish hall, 11401 Indian School Rd. NE, Albuquerque, NM (between Eubank and Juan Tabo)
Contact: Anne Avellone, Office of Social Justice, 505-831-8167, justice@archdiosf.org
Cost: $10.00, if received by July 11. After July 11 : $15.00 Scholarships available. Pre-registration required. Lunch included. Register Early, Space Limited!

Bread for the World is one of four national partners with JustFaith, along with Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities USA and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

Comments from previous participants:

"I loved this workshop. It was both inspirational and challenging."
"Extremely dynamic presentation."
"Very motivating talk, inspiring, spiritual and practical."
"Excellent presentation, rooted in scripture.”
"This workshop is better than excellent."

About the facilitator:

Dan Driscoll is a former member of the national board for JustFaith and a JustFaith facilitator. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Notre Dame, served as Director of Parish Social Ministry in the Greensburg, PA, Diocese, and has been an editor with Ave Maria Press.

He currently serves as administrator for a Montessori school. Dan authored several articles on prayer and family life, and his first book, Daddyhood: This Changes Everything!, was published in 2002. Dan has worked with parishes, schools, and community organizations on spirituality and justice issues for over 15 years. Dan is married and has five children.

Neither Desserts nor Deserts

Late last year, the New Mexico Food Gap Task Force presented its report, Closing New Mexico’s Food Gap, to Governor Bill Richardson, Lt. Governor Diane Denish and the State Legislature. The Task Force was convened as a result of the passage of House Joint Memorial 10 in 2007 which called on the Governor to appoint a task force to study challenges to food access in the state and to provide recommendations to increase the ability of all New Mexicans to access healthy, affordable and culturally significant foods.

The Task Force was comprised of representatives of the Departments of Health, Human Services, Agriculture, Transportation, Aging and Long-Term Services, and Indian Affairs as well as representatives from the New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council, the Mid-Region Council of Governments and New Mexico Legal Aid. The Task Force met monthly from July through November to study the issue and develop the report.

Here's the first paragraph of the executive summary

Grocery stores and the food system of which they are a part are a critical cornerstone to the health and wealth of New Mexico’s communities, both urban and rural. Unfortunately, many New Mexicans do not have easy access to adequate, affordable, and healthy foods.

Fully one third of New Mexico’s counties are designated as having low food access and New Mexico is the second most food insecure state in the nation. The causes and adverse impacts of this “food gap” are varied and grave, but the opportunities to begin to close the food gap are also numerous and have great potential to contribute to the well-being of all New Mexicans.

Read Full Executive Summary
Read Full Report

LIVING IN THE FOOD DESERT
Santa Fe anti-hunger advocate Mark Winne wrote an article on this topic for the winter edition of Edible Santa Fe magazine. In the article, entitled Food Deserts and the Rural Food Gap, Mark tells us what he discovered at a small rural supermarket in Logan, New Mexico, which is in Quay County. For many residents of Logan, this supermarket was the only option available within 25 miles.

Though no Whole Foods, it is sufficiently stocked to prevent a hungry man from starving. Canned and packaged goods are neatly stacked, cleaning supplies abound and a frozen food case offers a reasonable selection of TV dinners and even Lean Cuisine.

But a walk down the dimly lit aisles will disappoint most fresh food shoppers. One ten-foot cooler carries a tired collection of apples, bananas, iceberg lettuce, pre-cut carrots and rubbery tomatoes. The only meat is packaged or frozen. And the cheeses come in two types: pale yellow and bright orange.

Pointing to various studies, Mark argues that there is a connection between obesity and the lack of access to nutritious food.

A growing body of evidence suggests, those with fewer food choices tend to eat less healthfully. According to New Mexico Department of Health statistics, Quay is the heaviest county in the state. Fully 71.5 percent of the county’s 10,155 residents are overweight or obese compared to the already high 59.7 percent rate for the state as a whole.

Even more tragically, 37 percent of Quay’s children between the ages of two and five who are enrolled in the Women, Infant and Children (WIC) program are also overweight or obese, which ties Quay with Hidalgo County for the rate in the state (the statewide average is 27 percent).

There are many other interesting statistics, anecdotes and examples in this piece. I recommend that you read the full article.

By the way, Mark is also author of an entire book on this topic, entitled Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty.

Speaking of Hunger: Sermons of Challenge and Hope

The other day I stumbled across the Seeds of Hope website. I was quite taken by the tagline, which reads Hope for the Healing of Hunger and Poverty.

It turns out that this website contains a treasure of resources related to raising awareness and reflecting about hunger and poverty. There are links to denominational resources on hunger, educational activities and a treasure trove of worship resources.

What I found most compelling was a subsection entitled Speaking of Hunger: Sermons of Challenge and Hope,

Here's the description: This collection of sermons is sponsored by the Alliance of Baptists (AOB) and produced by Seeds of Hope. "For a number of years, Christian leaders in the anti-hunger movement have been calling for a cache of sermons about hunger. This year the AOB has enabled Seeds to pull together this collection."

There are some powerful sermons contained in this section.

For example, there's a sermon entitled Counting Calories in a Starving World

According to Jesus those who don’t care for the poor have missed the gospel. Regardless of what’s said at eleven o’clock on Sunday morning in most churches, people who neglect the needy aren’t God’s people. How could Jesus have been any clearer? This story is disturbing, because we are calorie counters in a hungry world. Have you noticed that our meals have been getting bigger? As recently as five years ago, a 10-inch plate was standard in restaurants.

And then there's Knowing Jesus in the Breaking of the Bread

The growing millions of hungry people in our world are both a judgment upon our overstuffed affluence and an opportunity that presses urgently upon us. When nearly 10 million people in our land, over one-third of them children, live in households experiencing hunger, Jesus is present, demanding a response. When one in ten households in our affluent nation reports that its access to food is extremely limited or uncertain, Jesus is present, awaiting a response. An estimated 828 million people on our planet are undernourished.

And Storing Grain and Starving People

We should simplify our lifestyles and not ignore the hungry. We should become advocates for the oppressed, creating a world built upon economic and social justice. Why did Jesus think his disciples would do this? Perhaps Jesus believed they would see the sacrifices he made to help others and follow suit.

Finally, there's What! Does the Lord Require?

“Justice!” God requires you and me “to do justice.” And the verb “to do” emphasizes this is not an ideal, but a practice. It is not a concept, but an ethic. It is not some grand philosophy; it is something you do. It is not a passive state of non-aggression, an I-don’t-bother-anybody-else-so-don’t-bother-me isolation, but an active engagement in the world. Justice is about the equal treatment of all people. Justice is about equal opportunity for everyone.

A Second Encounter with Rep. Teague about H.R. 2139 (This one in Las Cruces)

Remember that I mentioned in my most recent post that my encounter with Rep. Harry Teague on Saturday was brief?

LaVerne Kaufman, our volunteer coordinator for Bread for the World in Las Cruces, caught up with him on Sunday and had a longer discussion with him about H.R. 2139, The Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009. Also present at that meeting was LaVerne's husband Bob.

LaVerne used a very helpful tool: a chart (contained in our Offering of Letters kit) developed by the Brookings Institution that shows that our foreign aid is adminstered by a confusing web of agencies.

Here's LaVerne's description

I got a phone message last night that Harry Teague would be in Las Cruces today.

I went to see him and took the chart from the Offering of Letters kit showing the foreign aid duplications of mission.

I had a chance to discuss it with one of his Las Cruces staff and she said she would bring it to his attention.

Bob and I met with Rep. Teague briefly and I told him about our letters and the chart and asked him to sign on to HR 2139.

Like Rep. Martin Heinrich on Saturday, Rep. Teague was noncommittal after the Sunday meeting. But I suspect that we managed to get the issue somewhere high on the agendas of two of our three members of Congress.

And as LaVerne said, "We've also made phone calls" And we're continuing to make those phone calls next week.

And thanks to Dick Steele at St. Thomas of Canterbury Episcopal Church and Estella Gahala-Lange at First United Methodist Church in Albuquerque, we will have several dozen letters to be delivered to Rep. Heinrich next week.

And thanks to Bobbie Rugg, we will also have about 22 letters from First Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe for Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, also next week

All those letters are to be sent by overnight mail to the Bread office first thing on Monday and delivered by the Bread government relations staff to Capitol Hill.

LaVerne is pictured above with BFW regional organizers Robin Stephenson and Meredith Story Williams

Pursuing H.R. 2139 at a Train Station and at an Asian Supermarket's Deli

What do a train station and an Asian/international supermarket have in common? That's where two of the three U.S. House members from New Mexico could be found on the third Saturday in May.

With the urgency of trying to get cosponsors for H.R. 2139, this was an opportunity we couldn't pass up! We had to try to talk to them about considering the possibility of cosponsoring this important piece of legislation, also known as the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009. In a nutshell, the bill asks President Barack Obama to overhaul our foreign policy structure to make sure our development policies are more effective.

Our Bread members in New Mexico had been making calls to the offices of Rep. Martin Heinrich, Rep. Harry Teague and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan all week, but as of the end of the week none of the three were among the 11 members of the House who had signed on to this bill.

Here's what Bread for the World President David Beckmann said just three days earlier.

Additional cosponsors will demonstrate that there is broad support in Congress for foreign assistance reform to make it more effective in reducing poverty. The next eight days are critical

So we had our work cut out. We had to find another way to get their attention. And what better way than to bring up the issue directly.

Rep. Harry Teague
Mr. Teague doesn't usually travel to Albuquerque because his congressional district comprises mostly southern New Mexico. But it so happens that the Duke City is an important starting point for our still fairly new commuter train, the Rail Runner Express, and Mr. Teague is promoting legislation that would extend this great rail system all the way down to Las Cruces. At present, the train runs between Santa Fe and Belen, which is just a few miles south of Albuquerque.

As part of his campaign, Mr. Teague decided to ride the train from Albuquerque to Los Lunas and Belen, two stops that are in his district. We caught up with him in Albuquerque, where we had a few minutes for an extremely brief chat. We handed him a copy of H.R. 2139 and asked (on behalf of Bread members in Las Cruces) to consider cosponsoring the bill. He promised he would look at the initiative closely.

LaVerne Kaufman, our Bread coordinator in Las Cruces, was going to ensure that we could reinforce the message from the district. She was going to contact that folks who hadn't called about HR2139 and asked them to picked up the telephone on Monday.

Rep. Martin Heinrich
It was with great delight that we discovered that Rep. Heinrich was holding "office hours" in the deli section of Talin World Market. This store started as an Asian supermarket, but has expanded its scope to include foods from the Caribbean, Italy, Egypt, and other regions. What better place to discuss a bill on international issues with our member of Congress?

I spent a little more time with Mr. Heinrich than I did with Mr. Teague. He gave me almost as much time as we get during our Lobby Day meetings in Washington. The difference here is that we were surrounded by meat and food cases and wonderful smells! I also handed Mr. Heinrich as copy of the text of the H.R. 2139, and had a few minutes to discuss how we felt this initiative would be a good step to improving our poverty-focused development assistance efforts. He agreed that the current foreign-aid structure was cumbersome and promised to consider this bill very closely. He couldn't promise at that point that he would cosponsor H.R. 2139, but directed the staffer sitting at his side to have the legislative aide in Washington who covers this area begin to look at the bill.

But wait! I wasn't the only Bread member who talked to Mr. Heinrich on that Saturday. Marjorie Williams came by later in the day to discuss H.R. 2139. Marjorie said she was encouraged that our congressman thinks very highly of the lead sponsor of the bill, Rep. Berman.

So we hope these visits translate into cosponsorships. Letters and phone calls and e-mails will continue pouring into Washington next week, not only to the offices of Rep. Heinrich and Teague, but also Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (We didn't know of any public event for him--or we would have been there too)!.