Engaging in Cyberspace

Even as we continue to practice social distancing, we realize the importance of maintaining connections on our work to address hunger in New Mexico. In lieu of large in-person meetings, we are planning two educational programs on Zoom over the next couple of months.
Our June program is the Hunger 101 workshop we had originally planned with Chavurat Hamidbar (Fellowship in the Desert). Our July event will offer an update on the work of the Food, Hunger, Water and Agriculture Policy Work Group to address hunger in New Mexico before and during the current health emergency. Both events are open to the public but require registration. We will send the links closer to the date of the event.

Workshop
On Sunday, June 28, 3:00 p.m., will will hold a Hunger 101 workshop for members of Fellowship in the Desert, an eclectic-traditional Jewish community without a building or paid professional functionary. "Our prayer leaders and Torah readers are both men and women. Our prayer books and bibles (Sim Shalom, Revised Plaut, New Machzor) are issued by various movements, and we sit mixed, family-style," the community says on its website.

Our Zoom workshop will follow a similar format as other Hunger 101 presentations at First Presbyterian Church, Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Congregation Albert, the Jewish Community Center, Presbyterian Women, Church Women United, the Albuquerque Baha'i Community. We will offer the most recent statistics on hunger in New Mexico, followed by presentations by a community provider.

This workshop will have its own unique features. Leora Jaeger-Siegel, a member of Fellowship in the Desert, will offer an update on her work with the Fūdrr project. There will also be a brief presentation on the community food refrigerator project used in some countries around the world. There will also be an update on Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger..

Addressing Hunger During the Pandemic
Our practice in recent years has been to hold a bimonthly meeting at First Presbyterian Church every other month. Our last meeting was held on Feb. 25, featuring Patty Keane, Hunger Initiatives Coordinator, Office of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, and Mercy Alarid from the U.S. Census. Our March meeting, scheduled for March 25, was put on the back burner.

We are back online now with an update on the efforts of a broad coalition, called the Food, Hunger, Water and Agriculture Policy Work Group to ensure that people do not go hungry during the current health emergency. The work group, coordinated by New Mexico First, seeks to preserve funding for crucial feeding programs for school kids, seniors, agriculture, food banks and working families in the upcoming special session and in the 2021 session. You might recall, this same coalition (now including more partners) was already working to address hunger in New Mexico before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Our guest presenter for our Zoom meeting on Monday, July 27, is Lilly Irvin-Vitela, executive director of New Mexico First, who is coordinating the work group. This will be more than a month after the special session, which is scheduled for June 18. We hope you can join us for this important update about the work group.