I (heart) Fair Trade Flowers

How are you celebrating heart day? Perhaps your sweetheart would appreciate a box of chocolates and a dozen roses. But stop and consider this: Valentine's Day also provides you a great opportunity to put the concept of fair trade into practice. When you make your purchase decision, make sure that the product has fair trade certification. This primarily ensures that the grower of the cocoa, sugar and flowers were paid a fair price for their products.

So instead of buying the commercial brand of boxed chocolates, you might consider purchasing the special products offered on this day by these popular providers of fair trade chocolate Divine, Equal Exchange or SERRV.

What about flowers? Most of us are already aware about fairly traded chocolates, coffee and tea. But fair-trade flowers are not as widely known. Fair-trade flowers have only been available in the U.S. since August 2007, due primarily to the efforts of TransFair USA.

For flower farmers, fair trade certification means more than just a fair wage. It requires that farms provide employee benefits including 12 weeks maternity leave and child care. Read more about the growers.

But the wages are important too. Did you know that for every fair-trade flower sold by the Hoja Verde flower farm in Ecuador, the cooperative is able send one more child to school? Most fair-trade flowers come from three countries: Ecuador, Colombia and Kenya. See list of producers

One World Flowers: A Local Connection

Where can you buy Fair Trade flowers? In Albuquerque and Santa Fe, you can buy them at La Montañita Cooperative. Or you can buy them directly from the local fair-trade business that supplies the flowers to the natural grocer, One World Flowers. Here is a partial list of online retailers and supermarket chains nationwide that offer the flowers.

Alaina Paradise, who launched the business in March 2008, said the concept is catching on very quickly.

This is the first Valentine's Day for her business. And it has been extremely busy. The first thing you see when you log on to the company website is: Happy Valentine's Day to all of our wonderful and loyal customers! One World Flowers is unable to accept any more orders for Valentine's Day through our website because we have sold out of all of our inventory.

One World Flowers believes in supporting sustainable business practices, human rights compliance, and fair compensation for workers in countries all over the world.

"Valentine's Day has been absolutely outstanding for business," said Ms. Paradise, a graduate of the University of New Mexico's Anderson School of Business.

Ms. Paradise, who is a licensee of TransFair, offers a wide variety of bouquets and other products to her customers.

"We're excited because this holiday is making such an impact on the farms," said Ms. Pardise, who obtains her flowers almost exclusively from suppliers in Ecuador. "When the farms are doing well, they're able to employ more people and sustain the fair-trade business model.

So as you consider what to give your sweetheart this Valentine's day, also keep in mind the countless workers who labored growing the products that the two of you will enjoy together on this special day.

A Conversation on The Emerging Church

The Center for Action and Contemplation invites you to come to the first large gathering of Roman Catholic, Mainline Protestant, Evangelical, and other Christians seeking to explore the emergence and convergence together. You will be inspired by provocative speakers and spiritual leaders and engage in in-depth conversation about our shared quests for:

• A fresh understanding of Jesus
• Spirituality that links contemplation and action
• Social justice and holistic mission
• Authentic community

The line-up of speakers is very impressive: Father Richard Rohr, Brian McLaren, Phyllis Tickle, Shane Claiborne, Alexie Torres-Fleming, and others. Read more about the presenters

Read accounts by these authors and others in the Oct-Dec issue of Radical Grace (pdf format)
See clips of Richard Rohr's webcast on the Emerging Church

They will participate with us in three days of spiritual enrichment, challenge, and shared exploration as we envision what the Christian community can be and do in this generation and generations to come. See Schedule

And the conversations will continue after the conference, with Theology professor Dr. Bryan Froehle and Mennonite Pastor Anita Amstutz moderating a Post-Conference Continuing Conversation. Read More

Bread for the World is one of the organizations that have been invited to set up a display. Please visit our table.

Register
Rates

Other Useful links:
Venue and Accomodations
Logistics and Visitor Information
Suggested Reading

The CARE Action Network invites you...

Save the date for Thursday, March 5! If you want to learn more about the great work that CARE does to fight global poverty by empowering marginalized women and girls to bring lasting change to their communities here’s your chance.

In honor of International Women’s Day, CARE will present A POWERFUL NOISE in 450 movie theatres nationwide. The movie will be shown at 5:30 p.m. Mountain Time

Albuquerque, Santa Fe and central and northern New Mexico residents can view the movie at the Albuquerque Dowtown 14 and the Cottonwood 16 buy tickets

For our friends, in Las Cruces and southern New Mexico, the nearet theater is the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso buy tickets

The movie takes you inside the lives of three women from different countries to witness their daily efforts to fight HIV/AIDS, champion girls’ education and unite ethnically divided communities. The film will be immediately followed by a town hall discussion with expert and celebrity panelists – including Nicholas Kristof, Christy Turlington Burns and Dr. Helene Gayle - broadcast live from New York City to participating theatres.

There is the possibility that the CARE Action Network (CAN) will host a local question-and-answer session. To find out more, please drop a note to Keith West-Harrison, CAN's volunteer state coordinator in New Mexico. keithwestharrison@mac.com

"We are trying to fill more than 120,000 theatre seats on March 5, so your presence is important! Forward this to your friends, family and co-workers and invite them to come to the theatres on that date," said Mr. West-Harrison.

CARE would like to make this the biggest awareness-building event in the organization's history. If you would like to help, you can take steps such as as championing a theatre, posting banner ads on your websites, or creating an event on your Facebook page. Local and national assistance is provided. Please drop a note to Mr. West-Harrison at the above address or visit this site.

"I would also encourage you to pass this on to your co-workers, book clubs and other personal/professional organizations that you may be involved with," said Mr. West-Harrison. "We have resources they can use to turn this into a group night out as well."

Mr. West-Harrison had a chance to view the movie at the CARE National Conference in Washington last summer and offers a strong recommendation.

"It was an emotionally moving experience. To see how these women live compared to our lives is drastic," he said. "It was truly inspiring to see how people with so little have made such a big impact on their communities."

If you would like to know more about CARE and CAN, please join us at the Bread for the World Offering of Letters Workshop in Santa Fe on March 1. Mr. West-Harrison is one of our speakers.

HUNGER ACTION FORUM

A Bread for the World Workshop for Las Cruces and El Paso

• LEARN about Bread for the World's 2009 Offering of Letters Campaign and how to organize in your community
• LEARN what is going on in your local community on poverty and hunger in relation to immigration and the faith community
• LEARN about poverty and nutrition
• REFLECT on the biblical basis for justice
• ACT and get your congregation or campus to make hunger history.

Peace Lutheran Church
1701 E. Missouri Ave,
Las Cruces, N.M.
10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.

PARTICIPANT INFORMATION
The Forum is FREE and sponsored by Bread for
the World and Peace Lutheran Church’s World
Hunger Committee. Participants will receive a
free 2009 Offering of Letters Kit.
Click here to RSVP

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

10:00 a.m. Welcome and Opening Prayer
-LaVerne Kaufman, District Coordinator, Bread for the World Las Cruces.
10:10 Seeking Justice on the Border
- Rebecca Wiggins, College Instructor, NMSU
Rebecca has worked with issues of poverty,economic development and human rights
in the border colonias of the United States and Mexico and also with women in Chiapas, Mexico.
10:35 Bread for the World’s 2009 Offering of Letters Video.
- The 2009 Video highlights this year’s Bread campaign to urge Congress to rework U.S. Foreign assistance to make it more effective in reducing poverty with stories from Latin America
and Africa.
Following the video Meredith Story-Williams, Regional Organizer for the Central Southern Region will discuss how to conduct an Offering of Letters.
11:05 Break
11:15 Reforming Foreign Assistance
- Robin Stephenson, Field Organizer for Bread for the World’s Western Region, will give a
power point presentation on this year’s Offering of Letters campaign.
12:00 Breaking of Bread
- Peace Lutheran Church’s World Hunger Committee will provide a simple meal of Bread and Soup
12:45 Biblical Basis For Justice
- Ellen Young, long time member of Bread for the World, will provide insights into the Biblical
basis for justice.
1:00 Breakout Sessions (see below)
1:45 Reassemble for benediction and final thoughts.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Participants may choose one of the following sessions for the afternoon.

A. Advocacy 201: Building the Anti-Hunger Movement Locally
Think globally and organize locally. Organizers Robin Stephenson and Meredith Story-Williams will teach participants methods to organize in their own communities through chapter building, congressional visits and outreach.

B. Our Borders. Our Neighbors
Ryan Steinmetz, Director of Border Servant Corps in Las Cruces and El Paso along with Rebecca Wiggins will discuss efforts to provide for the needs of border communities in the region.

C. Poverty and Nutrition
Kari Bachman, Program Coordinator of Nutrition Education at NMSU will talk about nutrition, food culture, and food security for low income families.

Questions?
LaVerne Kaufman, Volunteer District Coordinator, Bread for the World Las Cruces. lrkaufman@zianet.com (575) 382– 7430.

Robin Stephenson, Field Organizer Bread for the World Western Region. rstephenson@bread.org (888) 75-BREAD Extension 5.

Meredith Story-Willams, Central Southern Region, breadtx@bread.org (888) 257-0239

Mark Your Calendars

Offering of Letters Workshops

In 2009, Bread for the World will urge Congress to rework U.S. foreign assistance to make it more effective in reducing poverty. While the world has changed dramatically, the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act still drives how we deliver foreign aid.

U.S. foreign aid programs are scattered across 12 departments, 25 agencies, and nearly 60 government offices. A more efficient system will ensure poor people get help faster and more effectively. In 2009, a new U.S. president and Congress present a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make U.S. foreign assistance more effective in reducing hunger and poverty.

Come learn how your church, congregation or group can participate in the campaign.

ALBUQUERQUE
Saturday, February 28
9:30 a.m.-Noon
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church
5301 Ponderosa NE
(east of San Mateo, north of Comanche)
Map

Speakers:
Mark Peceny, chair, Political Science Dept., UNM
Mark is a long-time member of Bread for the World. His research and teaching interests at the University of New Mexico lie in the areas of international relations, U.S.foreign policy and inter-American relations. He will give us a brief history and background on U.S. foreign-aid policies, and how those policies have affected countries around the world.

Robin Stephenson, Bread for the World field organizer
Robin works out of the Bread for the World western regional office in Portland, Oregon. She will provide background about this year’s Offering of Letters, including strategies for letter-writing and relevant legislation.

Maria Franco-Tapia, Heifer International staff
Maria is on of two community relations coordinators for Heifer in the Central Region, which includes New Mexico. She will tell us about the work of her organization in poor countries around the world and how people in New Mexico can become involved in the work of Heifer. Heifer International works with communities around the world to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth.

Click here to RSVP for this workshop

SANTA FE
Sunday, March 1
1:30-4:00 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church
208 Grant Ave. (across from the former Sweeney Center)
Map

Speakers:
Tom McDermott, former UN regional director
Tom, who spent 39 years working in international development through UNICEF and the Peace Corps, will give us a bit of background on U.S. foreign aid policies and how those policies have affected other countries. He is currently special events coordinator and community liaison for the Santa Fe Council for International Relations, a >non-partisan organization dedicated to the belief that individual citizens can shape foreign relations “one handshake at a time.”

Robin Stephenson, Bread for the World field organizer
Robin will provide background about this year’s Offering of Letters, including strategies for letter-writing and relevant legislation.

Keith West-Harrison, New Mexico state chair, CARE Action Network (CAN)
Keith, who is based in Santa Fe, will tell us how people in New Mexico can become involved with CAN, which is comprised of volunteers around the country who support the work of CARE. Their main goal is to educate our nation's leaders about issues of global poverty. CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty.

Click here to RSVP for this workshop

For more information, contact breadnm@gmail.com

A Table of Blessings

First United Methodist Church is one of the congregations in Albuquerque that has most embraced Bread for the World. The evidence is the way in which the church chose to observe Hunger Sunday this year on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

The Social Justice Team and Pastor David Okerberg used bulletin inserts, scripture readings, bulletin reflections, pulpit reflections and a special monetary offering to ensure that the congregation was in solidarity this day with poor and hungry people around the world. (The congregation collected more than $1,300 for Bread for the World).

But the organizers wanted to ensure that Hunger Sunday was not going to be just a one-day event. They put together a booklet, comprised of favorite short table blessings from members of the congregation, to distribute a few weeks after Hunger Sunday.

"Their blessings are collected here for your use and reflection," said the booklet. "Some are family-related or personal; others are anonymous; some tuneful and physical; some are traditional; others are 'different.' Some are borrowed from famous writers; others are heritage blessings in the language of our ancestors.

All are filled with joy, praise, thanksgiving, and love of God and of our brothers and sisters who suffer from want.

Behind every effort like this one, there is always one person or team that provides the energy to make it happen. In this case, the person was Estella Gahala, who also led the congregation's successful Offering of Letters campaign in the spring. "Our association with...Bread for the World has blessed us at FUMC," said Estella.

Click here to read a sampling of the blessings in the booklet.

A sampling of blessings

Here is a sample of some of the blessings contained the First United Methodist Church booklet:

Personal blessings:
Come, dear Jesus, be our guest.
Bless this food thou has given us.
-Vicki Zinn

Traditional blessings:
Our morning Joy, our evening Rest,
And with our daily bread impart
Thy love and peace to every heart. Amen.
-the Book of Common Worship

Tuneful blessings:
(Sung to the tune of "The Addams Family")
We thank you for our food, Lord,
For all the things you do, Lord.
We thank you for our parents
And all our family,
Do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do.
Amen.
-Dana Stringer

Not-Your-Typical Blessings
First everyone finds the cook and throws a kiss to the cook.
Then everyone throws a kiss skyward.

Borrowed Blessings
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
(offered by Calla Ann Pepmuller)

Heritage Blessings
A New Mexican blessing:
Bendito seas, Señor, Dios del universo,
Por este pan, fruto de la tierra y del trabajo del hombre,
Que recibimos de tu generosidad
Y ahora te presentamos;
El será para nosotros
pan de vida.
-offered by Estella Gahala-Lange

O Lord, give bread to those who have hunger
and hunger of Thee to those who have bread.
-Haitian proverb

'Last year I was your donor, and this year I need your help.'

The top story in this morning's edition of the Albuquerque Journal featured Gov. Bill Richardson's decision to withdraw his name for consideration as President-elect Obama's commerce secretary. While that story was huge and deserved major attention, there were other articles published in the back pages or sections of the newspaper that in my opinion merit some attention.

For example, there was the blurb about the Albuquerque Bar Association's forum on Tuesday, Jan. 6, about the legal rights of the poor in New Mexico.
The one story that caught my attention, however, was the one-on-one interview with Melody Wattenbarger, director of the Roadrunner Food Bank. The story was carried in the Business Outlook section. My guess is that many readers do not pick up this section, since most articles are business-oriented. But that's just a guess.

Still, I credit the Journal and Assistant Business Editor Autumn Gray for choosing to interview Ms. Wattenbarger, a very dedicated member of our anti-hunger and anti-poverty community in New Mexico.

Since online access to the Journal is restricted to subscribers, I will run excerpts from the interview that I found most compelling.

Q: How much have you seen hunger and poverty increase in the state in the last year, or in the last few months as the recession has worsened?
A: I'm entering my 23rd year doing this kind of work. I have never received the kinds of calls and inquiries as I am receiving now. For one thing, we're receiving requests for food help via e-mail, which I don't remember until the last few months that ever happening. And the e-mails are coming from places you would recognize — businesses and places that you would know, and the people who are working there need help. We started seeing it as a consequence of all of the inflation — the inflation in fuel, which is now reversed, but fuel drove up the price of things and the price of those things has not dropped, like food. People were just finding that their salaries weren't making it anymore. It just didn't stretch far enough.

I also found this question very interesting....

Q: So hunger is no longer that far removed from the local business world?
A: I can't say where those e-mails are coming from. I wouldn't say. But Business Outlook readers have employees who are at work sending e-mails to the food bank saying I can't feed my kids. And we're seeing huge percentage increases — 30 and 40 percent increases (in people in need) from the organizations that we serve. And the numbers were high already. A lot of those people are new, brand new, people who never needed help before. Some of them have even said to us, 'Last year I was your donor, and this year I need your help.'

If you have a delivery and/or online subscription to the Journal, click here to read the full piece.

A Lobby Visit with One of our New Members of Congress

As part of Bread for the World's Beat 08 campaign, members around the country attended candidate forums and met candidates for Congress to bring up hunger- and poverty-related issues.

This effort continued past the Nov. 4 election, when members sought out the newly elected representatives to discuss issues important to our organization.

On Monday, Dec. 22, Bread member Jim Brown (pictured at right) met in Santa Fe with Rep.-elect Ben Ray Lujan, who will represent the New Mexico Third Congressional District.

Here is a short account of Jim's visit with Rep.-elect Lujan.

I was able to meet with Congressman-elect Ben Ray Lujan one-on-one representing Bread for the World.

After giving him some basic information about Bread and some brochures, I answered some questions which he posed about our organization. He did say that what we represent, fighting hunger and the many related causes and issues, was a subject of interest to him.

I said I would be in touch with the proper staff person on our issues once his office was fully set up. -Bro. Jim Brown, FSC

Speaking of our new congressional delegation, here is a great guest piece written by Julie Heinrich, wife of Rep.-elect Martin Heinrich, in the Democracy for New Mexico blog. The article gives us an overview of Rep.-elect Heinrich's busy work since he was elected to represent the New Mexico First Congressional District.

We look forward to following up with Rep. Lujan, Rep. Heinrich and the rest of our New Mexico congressional delegation on Lobby Day in mid-June (probably June 15).

A Christmas Card

Bread for the World-New Mexico

Wishes you

a Blessed and Merry Christmas

Fourth Week of Advent: A Sunrise Prayer

Riding on our new Railrunner service between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, it's very easy to get lost in the landscape. As the train rolls just past the city limits of Albuquerque, our local mountain range is quite visible to the right. One cannot help but notice how the light plays with the shadows and shapes of the Sandia Mountains.
There is quite a different landscape on the return trip from Santa Fe in the evening. Again, sitting on the right-hand side of the train, I detect the Jemez Mountains much further in the horizon. The Jemez aren't as tall as the Sandias but the light from our Creator plays with them just as well.

So in that spirit of light, I want to share this poem from Praying Advent (Creighton University)

Thank you. What a gift this morning from you as I watched the blazing sunrise through a cloudy winter sky. It is hard getting up these dark mornings, Lord, and yet you gift me with a sight that I miss at other times of year, when the weather is warmer and the sun rises before I get up.

I stared out the window at the red and purple light, gloriously framed by the gold of the rising sun. "Be still, and know that I am God" was the only thing that came to me. I watched in silence, filled with a sense of your presence in my life.

I am filled with gratitude this day for such a treasure and could feel it and see it as a gift from you. Thank you for your love. Today, let me carry a sense of how much you love me to send me such a gift.

Let that awareness of your love change the way I treat others today. Let me be more reverent in the irritations of the day. I ask your help to move through my errands and holiday preparations today with peace and a sense of your sunrise in my heart. Your glory fills my spirit and I want only to give thanks with my life this day.

Local community food advocate recommends direction for USDA

Mark Winne, a Santa Fe-based advocate for community-based food systems, wrote a piece in his blog in which he recommends the direction that the U.S. Department of Agriculture should take under the new administration.

Here's an excerpt:

The mere structure of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture...presents a lingering policy problem that thwarts those growing hordes of activists who see the promise of justice and sustainability being fulfilled at the community level.

USDA is hopelessly fragmented into programs that assist farmers – mostly very large commodity farmers, as we know; programs (15 separate ones in all) that feed people such as food stamps; and programs that support conservation.

If I walked into USDA headquarters in Washington, DC and asked to see someone who could help me develop a local food system that respected our natural resources, rewarded farmers with a decent livelihood, and provided healthy food to all our residents, nobody would know where to send me.

Read the full piece, entitled If Only He Asked Me - Thoughts on a New Way for USDA

Click here to access more of Mark's thoughts via his website and blog, including information about his recently published book, Closing the Food Gap. I wrote about it in a previous blog post.

2009 Offering of Letters: Reforming Foreign Aid

Excerpt from Bread West December newsletter
(By Robin Stephenson and Matt Newell-Ching)

Bread for the World is preparing to launch the 2009 Offering of Letters on Reforming Foreign Aid in January. Our 2009 Offering of Letters will urge Congress to rework U.S. foreign assistance to make it more effective in reducing poverty.

At a time of economic constraint, we have a long-awaited opportunity to make U.S. foreign assistance more effective and get more of our aid to people who really need it.

If foreign aid is fixed, more lives can be saved. Fewer children will die of hunger. Parents will be able to feed their families in the years to come.

Better foreign aid also means less waste. We will be asking Congress to bring U.S. foreign assistance up to date and ensure that development is elevated as a national priority, alongside defense and diplomacy.

Bread for the World has had sent groups to Ethiopia and Nicaragua to gather stories to create this year’s Offering of Letters DVD. Bread staffers Kimberly Burge and Brian Duss wrote about their trip to Nicaragua in the Bread blog. (The above photo was taken during Kimberly and Brian's trip)

Recently Bread for the World president David Beckman spoke about the hunger crisis and Foreign Assistance Reform on Voice of America. You can listen here. As well, there was a very good story on NPR’s All Thing’s Considered with about foreign aid and the next administration. Listen here.

There are good background papers by Bread for the World policy analysts online (you might want to build a study group around these).
1. Global Development: Charting a New Course by Todd Post.
2. Reforming Foreign Aid by Charles Uphau

Finally, the Dec. 14 edition of Parade magazine published a chart that provides good background on the direction of our foreign aid until now. The chart lists the top six recipients of foreign aid and the purpose of that aid. For the top four (Israel, Egypt, Pakistan and Jordan), the words "weapons" and "security" are prominent. For the next two, Kenya and South Africa, the key word is HIV/AIDS.
Here is a link to the chart.

Third Week of Advent: Candles and Gratitude

In many different traditions lighting candles is a sacred action. It expresses more than words can express. It has to do with gratefulness. From time immemorial, people have lit candles in sacred places. Why should cyberspace not be sacred? Click here to light a candle via your computer.
(Thanks to Gratefulness.org for providing this site)

Second Week of Advent: The Deeps of Invisible Light

Praises and canticles anticipate
Each day the singing bells that wake the sun,
But now our psalmody is done.
Our hasting souls outstrip the day;
Now before dawn, they have their noon.
The truth that transsubstantiates the body's night
Has made our minds His temple tent;
Open the secret eye of faith
And drink these deeps of invisible light.

-Thomas Merton
(an excerpt from the poem After the Night Office--Gethsemani Abbey)