Monday, March 31, 2014

Every Day Should be World Water Day

I'm nore than a week late in observing World Water Day 2014. The day when the global community commemorates the universal right to water occurred on March 22, 2014.  This year, organizers at the United Nations selected the theme of  Water and Energy.

In 2014, the UN System – working closely with its Member States and other relevant stakeholders – is collectively bringing its attention to the water-energy nexus, particularly addressing inequities, especially for the 'bottom billion' who live in slums and impoverished rural areas and survive without access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, sufficient food and energy services. It also aims to facilitate the development of policies and crosscutting frameworks that bridge ministries and sectors, leading the way to energy security and sustainable water use in a green economy. Particular attention will be paid to identifying best practices that can make a water- and energy-efficient 'Green Industry' a reality.

This effort, of course, continues throughout the year and during the years to come. After all, the attention to global water needs should not be limited to a single day in March. So, in that spirit, I would like to declare every day as World Water Day.

While the efforts to promote and emphasize the links between water and energy are an important part of  the global effort to address poverty, the simple access to clean water for daily use is just as important.  So, as we celebrate the UN's official theme, we also underscore the many ways in which communities around the world address this need.  This video from Church World Service (produced by RippleEffectImages.org), highlights a project in Kenya.  This is the first of a series of CWS videos on water. You can watch them all in the playlist.



Life is transformed--particularly for women and girls--when a community builds a sand dam and gains ready access to safe water, with support from Church World Service.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Enlightened Eating: A Blessing that Extends Through Your Entire Meal

Have you ever been so hungry that the instant you get your food, the first instinct is to go into devour mode?  Many of us do not necessarily "inhale" our food, but we do focus on addressing those hunger pangs.

Jay Michaelson, author of  the book God in Your Body, urges us to treat our food with reverence. In an article entitled Eat Your Way to Enlightment, Michaelson offers us a set of a meditation guidelines to go along with this practice borrowed from the Buddhist tradition and adapted into Kabbala tradition of Judaism.

Michaelson points out that the practice is now widely taught among the people who gave the world the bagel & shmear. "But more than almost any other practice I teach, it works for people of any or no religious background, and with a lot or no meditation experience. Admittedly, it's not quite instant enlightenment -- but it is a taste of the World to Come," said Michaelson.

When we say grace or say a blessing before a meal, we tend to go on to conversations with our dining companions. And that is natural. Michaelson's practice gives us a chance to offer our blessings throughout the entire meal when we eat by ourselves or to offer an extended blessing when we share food with others.

"Very simple practice -- not much Kabbalah, not many moving parts; just waking up to the body, to fulfill the injunction of v'achalta, v'savata, u'verachta (you will eat, you'll be satisfied, and you'll bless) with the same intensity our ancestors might have had. I like to think of it as the prerequisite for authentic blessing," said Michaelson.  (This is another way to practice  what Rabbi Min Kantrowitz told participants at the Jewish-Catholic Dialogue's Spring Colloquium in Albuquerque in March).

Eight Steps to Mindful Eating
So where do you start? Michaelson tells us how.
"Begin by selecting a piece of food. A bit of fruit or vegetable is good, though I often teach this practice with a potato chip -- really, almost anything works. Take a moment to focus on the object before putting it in your mouth."

And then we are prompted to use the Kabbalistic map of the four worlds to assist us with the practice. The descriptions that follow are abbreviated.  Read the entire article to get the full eight steps.

    •  First, on the level of the body, you might feel the food with your fingers, or just gaze at it with focused attention. What does it feel like, or look like?
    • "Check in" next with the heart. What desires do you have? Are you hungry? Nauseated? Thankful?
    • On the plane of the mind, consider for a moment all of the people involved in bringing this food to you. Farmers, truck drivers, factory workers, storekeepers -- there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people whose labor created the simple occasion of this food arriving in this moment.
    • And, on the level of the soul, consider all the conditions necessary to have created this food. The four elements of fire (sun), water, Earth, and air; the genetic information in the plants (or animals), which I see as part of the Divine wisdom (chochmah).
    • Then -- finally! -- place the food in your mouth. Before chewing and swallowing, experience the tactile sensations of the food on your tongue, the tastes, the feeling of the mouth watering.
    • Then, bite into the food and chew, trying to omit any automatic movements. When chewing, know you are chewing.
    • Swallow after the food has been thoroughly chewed, probably twenty or thirty times (don't bother counting; it's not a quiz).
    • As your tongue cleans your mouth after this mindful bite of food, try to maintain the attentiveness that you've cultivated; don't let it be automatic.

    Saturday, March 29, 2014

    An Argument for Including Freedom of the Press in Follow-up Plan to Millennium Development Goals

    Cover picture for CPJ report
    I attended a very interesting conference on freedom of the press in the Americas at Florida International University this past week. One free resource available to participants was a book published by the Committee to Protect Journalists entitled Attacks on the Press: Journalism on the World's Front Lines.

    Several chapters in the book caught my attention, but one in particular had relevance to my anti-hunger and anti-poverty efforts. The chapter, written by CPJ deputy director Rob Mahoney, suggested that work of journalists was to look at the important issues affecting a country, and if this work was hampered, this would affect the most vulnerable members of society.
      
    Mahoney used the example of Umar Cheema, a Pakistani journalist, who won the CPJ's International Press Freedom Award in 2011. Despite continued harrassment and intimidation from the Pakistani military (including a brutal assault in 2010), Cheema has continued the work of exposing corruption in Pakistan--which directly affects the well-being of the poor. 

    In the chapter entitled  "Putting Press Freedoms at the Heart of Anti-Poverty Efforts," Mahoney points out that other journalists are doing similar work in their own countries (and are facing similar harrassment).  Here is an excerpt
    There are Umar Cheemas in most countries, ferreting out land titles, company accounts, and public records, in an effort to hold governments and businesses accountable and serve the public interest. But many are under-funded and exposed. They are harassed, threatened, or lose their jobs. An increasing number are imprisoned, and many are simply murdered.

    Their work and the broader role of journalists and media organizations as a voice for the poor and powerless, a provider of information and ideas, a forum for politics and culture, and an engine of change is acknowledged by economists and political scientists as vital to economic development and democracy.

    But multilateral institutions from the United Nations to the World Bank, along with individual Western donor nations and agencies, have a mixed record in providing the sustained support, protection, and investment that journalists in repressive or impoverished countries or regions require. At the dawn of this millennium, world leaders vowed to improve the health and welfare of much of humanity by 2015 and agreed on eight goals for doing so. Press freedom was not among them. Neither were democratic governance and accountability, which press freedom underpins
    That a free press and democratic governance go hand in hand is now well established in the development community. But it was not always so, as made evident by the glaring omissions in the first set of UN goals in 2000.
    Here is the full text of  Putting Press Freedoms at the Heart of Anti-Poverty Efforts

    Should peacemaking be part of the global anti-poverty plan too? 
    While, Mahoney raises some interesting points, the global anti-poverty plan might have ommitted other important areas of work. For example, peace activist and author John Dear once suggested strongly that disarmament and peacemaking should have been included when the eight Millennium Development Goals were negotiated.

    "If we want to discover the blessings of peace, we have to renounce war and dedicate ourselves to a new world without war. Every human being has to join this global campaign for peace if we are to lead ourselves away from the precipice of global catastrophe. We need to rediscover our shared humanity and reclaim the higher principles of love, justice, compassion and equality. We need to demand food, clothing, housing, education, healthcare, and dignity for every child on the planet. We need to give our lives for a future of peace," Rev. Dear wrote in The Vision of Peace in November 2004.

    I agree that freedom of expression and peacemaking are essential partners to the fight against global poverty. But so far, they have been unspoken goals and not specific targets. So as the global community moves to follow up on the MDGs, perhaps the next global anti-poverty plan should include language where these two important human rights are spelled out in a more direct manner.

    Wednesday, March 26, 2014

    Join Us on Good Friday for Urban Way of the Cross

    You are invited to join us on Good Friday, April 18, for the third annual Urban Way of the Cross.This year's journey through downtown Albuquerque will start and end at the outside gathering area at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. There will be seven stations, where we will pray and reflect on issues dealing with prisons/addictions, homelessness, displacement, food insecurity, worker justice, immigration and hospitality. We will end with an anointing ceremony.



    Tuesday, March 25, 2014

    Prayers on the Lips of Breaking Waves

    Capitola Beach, California
    The world is holy. We are holy. All life is holy. Daily prayers are delivered on the lips of breaking waves, the whisperings of grasses, the shimmering of leaves.

    Terry Tempest Williams from Talking to God: Portrait of a World at Prayer (anthology)

    Monday, March 24, 2014

    Following Up on New Mexico Food Tax Debate; Effort in Navajo Nation Would Promote Healthier Food Alternatives

    Do you remember the proposal to restore the tax on groceries in New Mexico last fall?  The New Mexico Municipal League offered this suggestion as a a way to compensate for the loss of state subsidies without having to raise local base tax rates. Supporters and critics of the plan offered their suggestions in opinion pieces written on the editorial pages of the Albuquerque Journal.  I have a couple of follow-up links to share since I posted that effort in October.

    In November, Dick Minzner (former New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Secretary) and Brian McDonald  (Former director of the UNM Bureau of Business and Economic Research), wrote that the elimination of the food tax did not benefit the poor (and, in fact, hurt them) and helped middle class shoppers.  Read  Ending the Food Tax Actually Hurt New Mexico's Poorest

    In reply, State Sen. Jacob Candelaria (Democrat, Albuquerque) and Fred Nathan (executive director of Think New Mexico) offered a different point of view in a piece published in December. They argued that the move to eliminate the food tax in 2004 had truly helped the poor in New Mexico, and restoring the measure would be harmful to low-income residents of the state. Read Food Tax is a Step Backward

    There were some suggestions that a proposal to restore the food tax would come up again in this year's short  session of the the New Mexico State Legislature. Even though the shorter 30-day sessions are intended to discuss budget-related issues, there was no move to restore the food tax this year.

    Navajo Nation effort to tax junk food
    Around the same time as the State Legislature was meeting, a food-tax debate of another sort came up. The discussion occurred at the headquarters of the Navajo Nation in Window Rock, AZ. The Navajo Nation spans parts of three states: Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The debate in Window Rock did not center on revenues but on health-related issues.

    On Jan. 30, the Navajo Nation Council voted 12-7 in favor of  Healthy DinĆ© Nation Act, which would have enacted a 2-percent increase on processed foods high in fat, sugar and salt. Those foods would have been charged a sales tax of 7 percent. The revenue collected from the tax hike would have been deposited into a special fund to develop wellness centers, parks, basketball courts, trails, swimming pools, picnic grounds and health education classes.

    In a separate but parallel move, the Council also proposed to fully eliminate the existing 5-percent sales tax on fresh fruits and vegetables and nutritious snacks such as seeds and nuts. The measure was approved by an overwhelming vote of 17-1.

    The two measures were primarily intended to make it easier for residents of the reservation to buy healthy foods. “Each one of us here has a relative that’s diabetic, and we face that fact every single day,” bill sponsor Danny Simpson told the council.

    The vote was the culmination of a two-year grassroots campaign by members of the DinĆ© Community Advocacy Alliance who studied rates of obesity and diabetes on the reservation and decided existing prevention programs weren’t doing enough. “Even though there was a lot of education, people seemed to not be listening,” Gloria Ann Begay, project manager for the DinĆ© Community Advocacy Alliance, told the  Indian Country newspaper. “So we looked at policies like the tobacco tax or the seat belt laws and we decided that taxing junk food might discourage the purchase of it.”

    Proponents of the two tax efforts also expressed hope that the measure would persuade store owners on the reservation to carry more healthy food so low-income residents to broaden the choices available to reservation residents.

    The  Healthy DinĆ© Nation Act attracted national attention, including a piece in the The Wall Street Journal

    Tribal President's Veto Does Not Deter Proponents
    DCAA logo
    The efforts to promote healthy foods on the reservation experienced a temporary setback, as Tribal President Ben Shelley vetoed both measures in mid-February. He explained that the language in the initiative to increase the tax for junk food was vague and unenforceable. “This proposed tax will be imposed on the Navajo people, not the food and beverage industry or its distributors,” Shelly said in a press release. “The junk food importers will continue business as usual."

    Shelley urged the council to conduct more research and return with a better bill. "There is no impact analysis. What's the impact on the local businesses, especially the small businesses?" Shelly asked. "Is this tax legislation going to become law without the Nation clearly understanding its impact on Navajo businesses?"

    But proponents believe the two bills as written would accomplish their intended goal,. "The two pieces of legislation were meant to bring awareness and take responsibility of our health problems, to address access to healthy foods and the consumption of junk foods, and to initiate a health policy that would be sustainable for our people," the DinĆ© Community Advocacy Alliance (DCAA) said in a press release after Shelly issued the vetoes. 

    According to the Farmington Daily Times, in Farmington, New Mexico,  the two override bills are elegible for committee action on March 26. They were assigned to the Naa'bik'Ć­yĆ”ti' Committee and the council, where final authority rests. If the measures, introduced by Navajo lawmaker Jonathan Hale, are approved in committee, then the next move would be up to the full Council, which meets in April. The override would require support from two-thirds of the 24-member legislative.  Stay tuned.

    Sunday, March 23, 2014

    #Blessed

    I am on the e-mail list for the San Francisco Theological Seminary's The Way of Blessing reflections during Lent. I must confess that I mostly skim through the e-mails and decide whether I want to read further. One of the reflections caught my attention, primarily because it offered a relevant connection to contemporary culture, particularly social media. Then I discovered that the piece was written by one of my Facebook friends, Rev. Aimee Moiso (who spent four years at Bread for the World). Aimee's post looks at our society's attitudes toward the concept of blessing (and the beatitudes) on Twitter.

    Tuesday, March 18, 2014
    Twitter is a popular place to express blessedness, often with the handle "#blessed." A quick scan today reveals the blessings of hip new sneakers, acceptance into college, a strong cup of coffee, the presence of God, good weather, and the start of a new day. Someone on the feed noted that #blessed is tweeted about 13,000 times a day on average. What's nice about the #blessed Twitter feed is that, generally, it showcases honest gratitude. A lot of people on Twitter feel thankful enough to say so.  Read Aimee's full reflection, which is based on Matthew 5:10-12
    I did my own personal search on Twitter and found this example:

    Saturday, March 22, 2014

    Oxfam Report Explains Foreign Aid in Simple Terms


    On Wednesday, April 6, Oxfam America is planning a big event on Capitol Hill: the release of its updated version of its Foreign Aid 101 report. The report will be released at a reception co-hosted by Rep. Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington state, who is also co-chair of the Congressional Caucus for Effective Foreign Assistance

    The report is an effort by Oxfam  to dispel the common myths around foreign aid and answer some of the most fundamental questions as to why the US gives foreign aid and how to make it more effective. Oxfam is one the organizations partnering with Bread for the World to reform food aid, which is the subject of our 2014 Offering of Letters.

    The third edition of the report, entitled Foreign aid 101: A quick and easy guide to understanding US foreign aid, provides answers by posing five simple questions:
    • Why does the US give foreign aid?
    • How much does foreign aid cost?
    • What is the us doing to make foreign aid more effective?
    • How can us foreign aid better fight poverty?
    • Why does Oxfam care about foreign aid?

    The report is straightforward, well organized and contains very useful information and charts.  Download Foreign aid 101, Third edition
     
    One useful feature is a section on Myths and Facts. Here is one example.

    Myth: Development aid is just wasted by corrupt governments.
    Fact: Foreign aid can push governments to do the right thing. USAID has tools in place to address specific capacity gaps in country systems and minimize the risk of fraud and abuse. Experience shows that US agencies provide assistance in ways that can:
    • Serve as an incentive for improved management of public revenues
    • Strengthen checks and balances and be a deter rent to corruption
    • Assist governments to end aid dependency
    • Increase accountability to both local people and taxpayers
    Additionally, one US agency, the MCC, works only with the highest-performing governments, based on their performance on a set of indicators, including transparency and anticorruption efforts. Qualifying for MCC funding has created an incentive for some governments to improve, sometimes referred to as the “MCC effect.:" 

    Friday, March 21, 2014

    A Couple of Reflections on Fasting

    Fasting as an important part of the Lenten season, and many of the faithful practice this spiritual action on Fridays.  So on this Friday, I share a couple of short reflections related to fasting.

    One way to begin to see how vastly indulgent we usually are is to fast. It is a long day that is not broken by the usual three meals. One finds out what an astonishing amount of time is spent in the planning, purchasing, preparing, eating, and cleaning up of meals."
    -Elisabeth Elliot

    Ash Wednesday doesn’t begin a hunger strike, but rather a season of self-examination, spiritual reflection, repentance, sacrifice, and focused prayer. Lent is a time to examine our hearts and lives, to acknowledge our sins, to look for the ways we are not choosing the gospel or welcoming those whom Jesus calls us to.
    -Rev. Jim Wallis 
     (from Ash Wednesday: How Fasting and Prayer Could Change Us — and Our Country)

    Wednesday, March 19, 2014

    Videos Worth Watching (at an Offering of Letters Workshop)

    Cathy Pfefferle, Jeanne Elmhorst, Albuquerque Mennonite Chuch
    Bread for the World's skilled media staff produced several fabulous videos related to the 2014 Offering of Letters campaign So when we discovered at our recent Offering of Letters workshop that the DVD player was not connecting properly to the television set, we had to scramble.

    Fortunately, the videos are found online, so we called them up on a small laptop using our host church's WiFi. The image was small, but the message and the audio were very clear. And it helps that many of the participants in the workshop at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque had already seen the videos or knew how to access the videos online.

    The first video we accessed offers a general overview of the campaign. The second video (below) tells a gripping personal story of a mother in Guatemala whose circumstances caused her and her children to suffer from hunger and malnutrition. Thanks to a program for women with children under 2, she was able to gain access to the nutritious food she needed for her children and for herself. The program was supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).



    Jasmine McBeath spoke about Oxfam and food aid reform
    Guest Speaker from Oxfam 
    In a nutshell, our Offering of Letters seeks to make our food aid more effective and to foster long-term solutions to hunger, including a provision to buy food near the country where it is needed.  The aim is also to enhance the nutritional quality of food aid and target it to vulnerable populations. A third goal is to protect funding for emergency and development food aid.

     Bread for the World is partnering with several organizations in the food-aid reform effort, and we invited Jasmine McBeath, a volunteer with New Mexico Oxfam Action Corps, to tell us about Oxfam America's campaign.

    Our knowledgeable participants from 10 churches engaged in  a deep discussion about food aid and asked very good questions related to our campaign and food aid in general.

    One  person inquired about the timing of possible legislation related to our campaign. I mentioned that Bread is working with partner organizations and members of Congress from both parties about possible legislation. And Jasmine indicated that Oxfam America has targeted food reform as one of its top issues in recent years and that  Oxfam Action Corps volunteers went to Capitol Hill in April 2013 to promote a bipartisan bill that was nearly approved in the House. Furthermore, there has already been some legislative action this year via the newly approved Farm Bill.
     
    There are many more questions about food aid reform. What is U.S. food aid? What does it consist of? What countries are the top recipients of U.S. food aid? How does the U.S. government administer food aid? The answer to these and other queries can be found in the Offering of Letters booklet provides good answers on pages 5-7.

    Kirsten Marr, Rev. Karen Hill, First Presbyterian Church
    Ten Churches Attended
    Participants at the workshop represented Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Church, First Congregational Church, St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, St. Thomas of Canterbury Episcopal Church, All Saints Lutherna Church, Albuquerque Mennonite Church, First Presbyterian Church, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church,St. Paul Lutheran Church and Aquinas Newman Center Catholic Church.

    At least two other Albuquerque churches--St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church and La Mesa Presbyterian Church--have plans to conduct an Offering of Letters this year but were unable to send a representative to the workshop.  The churches in Santa Fe that held Offering of Letters in recent years include Westminster Presbyterian Church, First Presbyterian Church, St. Bede's Episcopal Church, United Church of Santa Fe and St. John's United Methodist Church. Smith Memorial Presbyterian Church in Truchas, First United Methodist Church in Gallup and Peace Lutheran Church in Las Cruces have also recently held letter-writing Sundays in recent years.

    Anna Redsand (St. Andrew Presbyerian) chats with Else Tasseron (St. Paul Lutheran)

    Sunday, March 16, 2014

    'Tomato Rabbis' Join in Campaign for Better Conditions for Florida Pickers



    Rabbi Min Kantrowitz, one of the speakers at the recent spring colloquium sponsored by the Jewish-Christian Dialogue in Albuquerque, told participants that an expanded definition of kosher has emerged in Judaism. The traditional definition of kosher is no longer enough. One important consideration is the environmental conditions under which the food was produced . If harmful pesticides or other chemicals that damage the Earth were used in the production of food, then it is not truly kosher.

    The other principle to remember is whether the rights and dignity of the workers involved in that production were respected.  Rabbi Min mentioned the tomato rabbis, who have partnered with  other faith-based groups and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to seek better conditions for tomato pickers in Florida. This effort  is one of several efforts sponsored by  T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

    Because of exemptions related to farm-workers in American labor law, farm-workers are paid by the pound, not by the hour: $0.50 for every 32 pound bucket of tomatoes they pick (We pay $75-80 in the store for the same 32-pounds of tomatoes). At these rates, most workers make well below the minimum wage, for an average annual salary of about $10,000. This holds true for workers who are here both legally and illegally. The farm-workers who pick tomatoes in Florida also face extreme pesticide exposure and unsafe working conditions. Meanwhile, cases of human trafficking and slavery are rampant. One federal prosecutor has called Florida "ground zero" for modern slavery. 
     
    Read more about the partnership among the tomato rabbis, other faith groups and the CIW.

    Rabbis, faith groups, tomato workers hold vigil at Publix Supermarket (photo: T'ruah)
    Some progress has occurred since  the campaign was begun. The faith community and the CIW have convinced some fast food chains (Taco Bell and McDonald's), food service companies, and a handful of grocery (Walmart, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's) to sign Fair Food Agreements, which commit the companies to only source from growers who have instituted a legally binding code of conduct in the fields. The CIW and the faith community have also gained a commitment from the Florida Tomato Growers Exchangeto phase-in the Fair Food Code of Conduct and to pay their workers one penny more a pound for tomatoes.

    But much work remains to be done. Many grocery stores and restaurant chains are still purchasing tomatoes under the old conditions.  The CIW and and the faith community believe the US Department of Agriculture should  set an example by changing its purchase practices for the school lunch program and for market-stabilization efforts. "The US Department of Agriculture is a bellwether buyer, and as an agency of the federal government its purchasing practices should embody the highest standards for human rights,' reads a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The letter is available for everyone to sign

    Friday, March 14, 2014

    A Blessing After a Meal

    Photo courtesy of Gail Rubin
    If we eat without thanking the source of our food--it is like stealing-Rabbi Min Kantrowitz

    The tradition in Judaism is to offer thanks and a blessing both before and after the meal. Rabbi Min Kantrowitz, a speaker at the 2014 spring colloquium sponsored by Jewish-Christian Dialogue in Albuquerque, shared with us a traditional blessing sung after a meal. (At left she plays the tune for the blessing on her recorder).

    The blessing is based on Deuteronomy 8:10. The English words came from Rabbi Hanna Teifert Seigel

    There are four parts to the blessing, and each one begins with the words v'Achalta v'Sabata u'Veyrachta (you will eat, you'll be satisfied and you'll bless).

    Our very first action after we finish eating is to express gratitude.

    v'Achalta v'Sabata u'Veyrachta

     We ate when we were hungry
    And now we're satisfied
    We thank the Source of Blessing,
    for all that S/he provides

    Then we express a sense of yearning

     v'Achalta v'Sabata u'Veyrachta
    Hunger is a yearning
    In body and soul
    Earth, Air, Fire, Water
    And spirit make us whole.

    This is followed by a recognition of connection to the Earth

     v'Achalta v'Sabata u'Veyrachta
    Giving and Receiving,
    We open our hands
    From seedtime through Harvest
    We're partners with the land

    Finally, we share this sense of wholeness (shalom) with all creation

     v'Achalta v'Sabata u'Veyrachta
    We share  in a vision
    Of wholeness and release
    Where every child is nourished
    And we all live in peace.

     v'Achalta v'Sabata u'Veyrachta

    (Rabbi Min Kantrwitz is director of Shutafim: New Mexico Jewish Community Connections, a program of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico).

    Wednesday, March 12, 2014

    Peace is Feeding the Hungry

    "Peace, in the sense of absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. It will not remove the pain or torture inflicted on a prisoner of conscience. It does not comfort those who have lost their loved ones in floods caused by senseless deforestation in a neighboring country. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where the people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free."

    -The Dalai Lama

    Sunday, March 09, 2014

    St. Vincent de Paul Society Promotes both Charity and Advocacy

    I've always associated the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and acts of charity. This is because the Vincentian fathers and their supporters and collaborators have always done such a solid job of setting up systems to tend to the immediate needs of people through its assistance services. In New Mexico, St. Vincent de Paul has food pantries and/or thrift stores in Albuquerque, Belen, Estancia, Los Lunas,Santa Fe, Tucumcari, Mountainair,Las Cruces and EspaƱola.   

    In other parts of the country, St. Vincent de Paul is associated with direct service to the homeless community. I remember a poem I wrote in high school about homeless people on Camp Street in New Orleans forming a line to receive assistance at Ozanam Inn.  The poem was lost, and I didn't think much about it until I recently browsed on the SSVP Web site and discovered that Ozanam Inn is a project of St. Vincent de Paul.

    Recent Albuquerque Workshop
    As I dug deeper through the St. Vincent de Paul Web site (as well as reviewed some e-mails I received in recent weeks), I discovered how narrow my view was of St. Vincent de Paul.  The Vincentian organization is also deeply involved in advocacy and in actions to change the current economic system that perpetuates poverty. Volunteers around the country are given the opportunity not just to provide assistance to those in need, but also to stand in solidarity with the poor and to advocate for systemic changes.  For example, St. Vincent de Paul volunteers in Albuquerque sponsored the Getting Ahead workshop to provide tools to its members and other interested persons in Albuquerque with tools to help empower low-income families and individuals in our community.

    Here is one of the principles that participants learned a the three-part workshop. 
    "Poverty is relative and occurs in all races. Poverty is not caused by just the decisions of the individual but also community conditions, exploitation and political and economic structures. People in poverty are problem solvers and work very hard daily to evade the tyranny of the moment, that is, the chronically unstable environment where concrete problems demand immediate concrete solutions."  

    Advocating for Change
    But even the Getting Ahead is only a small step beyond charity. St. Vincent de Paul has formed its own advocacy arm called Voice of the Poor, which offers education and opportunities for advocacy. "The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is concerned not only with alleviating need but also with identifying those structures, societal and legislative, that cause and perpetuate poverty," the society says in its Web site.

    "Serving as advocates for those living in poverty and representing them and their interests to our state and national legislators is a huge task," said the society.  "We spearhead that effort through Capwiz©, an online system that allows members and supporters of the Society to reach out to lawmakers when there is legislative activity ― or lack of it ― that affects those living in poverty."

    The society has put together a series of position papers related to several areas of advocacy.  Here is its position on hunger.

    Adequate food and safe drinking water to nourish the body is a basic right that is essential to the dignity of the hum an person and to life itself. No person should suffer. Food assistance must work in conjunction with any poverty reduc tion program. Agricultural and trade practices must be based on the common good. Government must se riously expand the vision of food, environment and farming policies beyond a single-dimen sional national view to a global vision that takes into account the welfare of local communities, especially those living in hand-to-mouth subsistence economies. The impacts on small family farms and local farmers in third world count ries struggling simply to survive must be protected from outside trade practices and other influences that result in untold pain and suffering.  Read Full Position Paper (draft)

    And here are the Voice of the Poor positions on other topics, such as Homlessness, Restorative Justice (working with people who have been incarcerated), Health Care for the Poor, ImmigrationPredatory Lending, Human Trafficking, Just Wages, Fair Wages, Education, and Affordable Housing

    To keep up to date on actions, St.Vincent de Paul invites you to join the VOP mailing list.

    Saturday, March 08, 2014

    Mark Winne Challenges Us to Review Our Perceptions (Solutions) Regarding Food Deserts

    Like all privileged liberals, I naturally assume I know what’s best for poor people. It begins with my Judeo-Christian ethic: what’s good for me is naturally good for them...If I can purchase $20 a pound wild-caught salmon at Whole Foods and serve it up, elegantly accessorized with perfectly seasoned kale and a brilliantly selected wine to an intimate party of six, then why shouldn’t everyone? I guess you could call these my ideas of food justice. -Mark Winne

    Santa Fe-based author and food-policy activist Mark Winne is one of the leaders in the fight to reform our food systems to improve local access and control and ultimately food security. This is abundantly clear in his books Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty and Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin' Mamas.

    Winne does not only challenge the establishment, but also prompts those of us who advocate for a more equitable food system to examine our perceptions and solutions. The debate over funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a clear example. For Winne, the discussion created the opportunity to examine whether the program truly encourages and enables healthy eating.  (Read his blog post "Time to Re-think Food Stamps").

    This brings us to the latest challenge that Winne posed to the nutrition community: our perceived solution to solving the problem of food deserts.  Food deserts are defined as urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food. "Instead of supermarkets and grocery stores, these communities may have no food access or are served only by fast food restaurants and convenience stores that offer few healthy, affordable food options," said the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service. "The lack of access contributes to a poor diet and can lead to higher levels of obesity and other diet-related diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease."

    In a blog post entitled "Access Games," Winne challenges the notion that building a grocery store is the automatic solution to this problem.  Citing articles in Health Affairs and Slate, Winne argues that the mere act of building a grocery store in an area of need does not necessarily improve the health and diet habits of the residents. (He also cites articles in The Huffington Post that suggest that residents of the underserved communities are indeed better off with a new grocery store. The Huffington Post, in fact, has an extensive array of articles on the topic).

    Tax Breaks for Grocery Stores?
    According to Winne, politicians are quick to create tax breaks and provide other high-cost incentives to bring grocery stores back to the inner cities that they abandoned a couple of decades ago.

     "Before we bathe that industry in public cash to entice it back into the hungry food desert marketplace, a market that they played a major role in creating, let’s at least be respectful of how we spend the taxpayers’ money," said Winne. (Incidentally, the newly approved Farm Bill contains $125 million for the government's Healthy Food Financing Initiative, on top of $500 million that has already been distributed).
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    Simply opening a grocery store doesn’t guarantee anything, but without the access it provides, efforts to address affordability, cooking skills, nutrition, and the effective use of food assistance benefits [e.g. SNAP] become much harder to accomplish.” --Martha Page, executive director of the Hartford Food System
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    So, should we or should we not encourage the construction of grocery stores in the inner cities? Some experts would argue that having a grocery store is better than not having one. “Simply opening a grocery store doesn’t guarantee anything, but without the access it provides, efforts to address affordability, cooking skills, nutrition, and the effective use of food assistance benefits [e.g. SNAP] become much harder to accomplish,” said Martha Page, executive director of the Hartford Food System..

    And Winne offers a concept that is applicable everywhere, whether it is in an inner city neighborhood or rural community in the U.S. or another country."What 'we' think is good for others isn’t a bad place to start, but we better ask the nomads of our food deserts what they want before we get too far down one particular road,"he said. "It’s too easy to fixate on one high-cost strategy; let’s review the evidence first, and give equal measure to all actions. As in nature, diversity usually yields the best result.

    Thursday, March 06, 2014

    A Reflection on the Second Day of Lent (and a Prayer for Peace in Ukraine)

    Ukranian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family, Washington, D.C.
    Shower Thy grace upon us in the moment of our greatest need, protect us from ourselves, and allow us to be a beacon of light rather than a dark cloud for the ambience that surrounds us. Only with Thy aid can we create that peace within and harmony with the outer environment, both natural and social, for which our souls yearn. 

    -Seyyed Hossein Nasr
    from Talking to God: Portrait of a World at Prayer (anthology)

    Sunday, March 02, 2014

    Miracle

    Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.  -Phillips Brooks

    Saturday, March 01, 2014

    Hunger 101: The Beginning of the Conversation


    Hanh Nguyen and Rev. Daniel Gutierrez
    There were about 90 people in the fellowship hall of First Presbyterian Church on a Sunday afternoon in February to engage in a conversation about how communities of faith in Albuquerque and elsewhere in New Mexico can work together to address hunger in our communities.

    The meeting was organized by the newly formed Interfaith Hunger Coalition, and a goal was to create a space for people of faith to offer ideas and proposals on how we could work together to address hunger. Check out our new Facebook page.

    Some of those in the room were pastors and rabbis and others were representatives of agencies like CatholicCharities, but the vast majority  were people who sit in the pews, chair mission committees, volunteer at food pantries, work in the community, support community gardens and are involved in many more activities to help people directly. There were also a few children and families and retired individuals..

    Many Congregations Represented

    Rev. Trey Hammond, La Mesa Presbyterian Church

    They came from many faith communities La Mesa Presbyterian Church, East Central Ministries, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Congregation Albert, Holy Family Catholic Church, Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, All Saints Lutheran Church, First Congregational Church, Albuquerque Mennonite Church, Congregation B'nai Israel, Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Central United Methodist Church, St. Paul Lutheran Church, First Presbyterian Church, Community of Hope, Annunciation Catholic Church, St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, Aquinas Newman Center Catholic Church, among others.

    From Ruth Hoffman's powerpoint
    Before the conversations began, we heard the personal story of Tony Pelletier, a member of the Community of Hope, who told us about how he and his wife Julie at times had coped with hunger.

    Then three experts offered the big picture of hunger in New Mexico. Ruth Hoffman from the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-New Mexico; Nancy Pope, founder of the Collaboration to End Hunger and consultant for Share Our Strength; and Kathy Komoll of the New Mexico Association of Food Banks offered some perspectives and background on the circumstances that have contributed to a high level of food insecurity in our state.

    Working on Immediate Needs and Systemic Problems
    Kathy Komoll
    After a question-and-answer session, the congregation was offered an opportunity to provide input of what steps the coalition should take.  The sense in the room was that we should become involved in a broad range of activities ranging from food recovery efforts, working to improve food stamps, pushing for consolidation of services, increasing food resources during the summer months and promoting community gardens.  All of those immediate actions will be on our agenda, but we will be working on advocacy and strategies to change the system that promotes hunger and poverty, including wage issues.  Stay Tuned

    Bayla Brookins, Rachel Brookins,  Congregation Albert

    Andy Najar, B.J. Jones, Catholic Charities
    Rev. Donna McNiel, New Mexico Conference of Churches, chats with a participant

    Deacon Santos Abeyta, Holy Family Catholic Church
    Nancy Pope chats with Kathy Komoll
    Rabbi Arthur Flicker of B'nai Israel offered the closing prayer