Starting the New Year with Bread for the World's Best-Ever Brochure

The year 2010 begins today, and I don't have any words of wisdom, resolutions or predictions to share.   There will be plenty to write about during the coming year.

For now, I would like to step back into the 1980s and talk a bit about my favorite Bread for the World brochure. In this day of electronic communication, I'm not sure how useful a brochure is now as opposed to what it used to be.  Still, brochures have been a big part of Bread since my involvement in the early 1980s.

I have nothing against the brochures that have been produced before and since this one.  I just think this particular one has the clearest message of what we're all about at Bread for the World.

The message in this brochure is very simple.  Many churches are already very good at becoming involved in projects that involve direct relief, i.e. charity.

There is a simple question.  What Else Can I Do About Hunger?  And there are many messages:

• "We can do more.  We have the gift of citizenship.  We can write letters and get others to write letters to support legislation that will address the structural causes of hunger.
• We can make hunger and poverty a priority of our national policies.
• We can make our anti-hunger efforts more effective