ACTIONS TAKEN:
IN THE SPIRIT OF THE RESOLUTION…..
…Martha Maier, 1967-77 councilperson for the Central region of LSM-USA and student at the University of Kansas, acted as coordinator for this resolution. She prepared a resource list and other articles on hunger for the LSM-USA Newsletter. The articles urged persons to participated in the Bread for the World’s Thanksgiving offering of letters.
…Judy Koch, student at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, last fall chaired ECHO (Eau Claire Campus Hunger Organization) an extensive project designed to increase awareness and raise money for world hunger. The highlight of the project was a campus wide fast day held cooperatively with the campus food service. A total of $1200 was raised for hunger relief agencies. People were also encouraged to write their legislators in support of a world grain reserve.
…The Hunger Education Program at the Campus Ministry Center at the University of Washington, Seattle, sponsored the “Rice Bowl” during Lent. “Rice Bowl” provided an opportunity not only to explore the relationship between an affluent lifestyle and world hunger, but to contribute in/to practical ways to solutions.
…Offerings from a number of LSM-USA regional retreats were sent to hunger relief agencies.
…Several local LSM-USA groups sponsored a hunger meal at their campus center during the years programming. This often consisted of nothing more than rice and water. Hunger simulation games were often used, also.
…Sherry Nusser of the University of Northern Colorado prepared the following article for the LSM-USA Newsletter.
As we have heard many times in the last few years, livestock in rich countries consume more grain than people in the poorest half of the world. Cattle are inefficient protein factories, consuming ten pounds of protein for every pound returned for human consumption. By choosing an alternate diet, one which emphasized less meat consumption, we can reduce our livestock population and release millions of grain directly to the hungry populations.
A vegetarian can obtain all the needed amounts of protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals if a variety of goods are chosen. Getting enough protein is the main concern for vegetarians. Fortunately, many plants including legumes, nuts, seeds, grains, and some vegetables are high in good quality protein.
However, plan proteins are incomplete sources of protein; they are lacking in one of the eight essential amino acids. (Amino acids are the building blocks of protein which are needed for body growth.) By eating two or more of these types of food at the same time you can match the complete protein found in meat. Furthermore, since milk and eggs are complete protein sources, they can be added to grain and legume dished to increase the protein quality.
Meatless dining is becoming increasingly popular on college campuses due to an increased awareness of both nutrition and the world food crisis. Vegetarian lines were introduced as early as ten years ago in California state schools and the trend is spreading across the country. In addition the vegetarian “image” has changed, they are no longer considered to be “health freaks” who dine on tiger’s milk and granola.
The types of food offered on different campuses vary from Yale’s Cheese and Walnut Stuffed Peppers, Stanford’s Broccoli Souffle, State University of New York’s Eggplant Parmesan to the Tofuburgers served at the University of Maine at Orono. The University of Arkansas at Fayettville offers a “Fair Share” line. Only those foods which are plentiful throughout the world are served.
If you’re interested in getting a vegetarian line at your college food service contact your food service director. And don’t think that you will be alone if you choose not to eat meat. With some student initiative even the University of Northern Colorado’s food service has decided to offer vegetarian menus and Greeley is in the heart of beef country!
Two good resources for vegetarian recipes are Francis Moree Lappe’s Diet for a Small Planet and Ellen Buchwald Ewald’s Recipes for a Small Planet. For more information on sources of vegetarian recipes and nutritional guidelines, contact: Sherry Nusser, 2190 West 30th St. #333, Greeley, Colorado, 80631.
RELATED ARTICLES:
The following article is from Bread for the World’s newsletter and bulletin. It is directed to the support of the world food reserve as the Thanksgiving offering of letters to Congresspeople were. It is reprinted here because it speaks to the whole hunger problem and our need to respond to it.
BIBLICAL RESOURCES FOR A FOOD RESERVE
The Bible relates to the current need for a world food reserve not with texts proving that God wills such a reserve (there are none), but by making an overwhelming case against hunger. This case, importantly, flows from the central themes of creation and redemption. It is not a marginal concern.
Creation. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (Ps. 24; Lev. 25:23). We are stewards, not owners of the earth, accountable for the way in which we use its resources, ether to enhance or to diminish the lives of others. Psalm 8 and Genesis 1:26-30, for example, link the value that God places on human life with our responsibility as stewards.
Stewardship is applied to hunger in Matthew 25:14-30. This parable makes the point that we are to use what the Master has entrusted to us to do his will until he returns. What is his will? To leave no room for doubt the parable is immediately followed by the great judgment scene in which the King says to all, “I was hungry and you fed me… (or did not feed me), etc.”
Redemption. The key event in the Old Testament was the Passover-Exodus experience. God revealed himself to his people by rescuing them when they were slaves in Egypt, and through signs and wonders and 40 years of hardship led them into the promised land. God’s covenant of love with people of humble origins shaped their attitudes toward one another and toward outsiders.
Based upon this understanding, the law gave poor people access to the harvest (Deut. 24:14-22 – note appeal to “remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you”; Lev. 19:9-10; Ruth 2; and Deut. 14:28-29). The idea of the law was the elimination of property (Deut. 15:1-15).
Food reserves. To slaves in Egypt and desert wanderers Canaan may have seemed “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Compared to our country, however, the land was difficult to farm, drought and famine always a possibility and sometimes a reality. Consequently, the Hebrews lived with a keen awareness of scarcity. Because of this Solomon and later kings stored grain and other food when they could (I Kings 9:19; II Chron. 31:5 & 32:28). Although Joseph served Pharaoh much earlier and in a different situation, his work in establishing and managing Egypt’s grain reserve was an important part of Israel’s tradition (Genesis 41).
Beyond all of this, the Hebrews sang out justice to the poor and hungry in their psalms (e.g. 146) and the prophets proclaimed it (see our paperback, Bread for the World, page 157 for a partial listing.)
The life, death and resurrection of Jesus informs the entire New Testament view of Christian responsibility to the poor and hungry. The coming of Jesus reminded Mary that God “has filled the hungry with good things” (Luke 1:53). And Jesus characterized his own ministry in much the same way (Luke 4:18-19). The parables of love to neighbor (e.g. the rich man and Lazarus, the Good Samaritan), Jesus’ special attention to the poor, the sick and the socially outcast, the feeding of the multitude, the frequent depicting of the Kingdom as a banquet with enough for all, and the Lord’s supper itself, all carry profound implication regarding our attitude toward hunger. Acts 11:27-30 and II Cor. 8 & 9 (relief for Judea), James 2:15-17, and I John 3:16-18 reflect this consistent biblical concern.
The Bible also points us beyond bread. “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Matt. 4:4 & Deut 8:3). In John 6 Jesus not only reminds us that sharing bread is a sign of the Kingdom; he also warns against limiting our vision to bread that perishes. A prater in a Mexican convent summarizes this inclusive view: “Give bread to those who hunger, and hunger of Thee to those who have bread.” (December 1976, BFW)
“One young Catholic homemaker told of her own experience with fasting that she had begun some two years before in response to the world hunger situation. ‘I have read that Christian writers say fasting is a freeing experience, a kind of cleansing, and I can just say that from my own experience that is makes you feel clean in body and spirit, I guess because it helps you to understand that you need not depend on things so much as you must learn to depend on God.’ She practices a 30-hour fast weekly, from supper of one day until breakfast a day and a half later, keeping track of the money she would have put into her own share of food and giving that to world hunger-fighting causes. Since she is the chef and meal planner in her own home, the example is not lost on her two teen-age children who occasionally ask to fast and pray for the same reasons.”—from an account in Crux of Prayer of a fast of 50 persons, sponsored by a BFW (Bread for the World) group and held in a Reformed Church in upstate New York. For more information write: Rev. Dennis Meyer, Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Glen Avenue and Reynolds Street, Scotia, NY 12302.
(June 1977, BFW)
HUNGRY AND OVER 60. More than 3 million U.S. citizens over the age of 60 are confined to their homes and unable to prepare their own meals, according to a bi-partisan report from the Senate Committee on Nutrition. Yet fewer than 60 thousand of them receive home-delivered meals. The report called for a national “meals on wheels” program to combat malnutrition among the elderly and to provide a more human and far less costly alternative to nursing homes for many. (December 1976, BFW)
RESOURCES AVAILABLE:
BOOKS
BREAD FOR THE WORLD Available from Paulist Press, 400 Sette Drive, Paramus, NJ 07652 and Eerdmans, 225 Jefferson Ave., S. E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49502. (A readable book with good background information, action ideas, and an extensive bibliography.)
BY BREAD ALONE by Lester Brown and available from Praeger Publishers, New York: 1974. (A book that delves a bit deeper into the problem)
WORLD FOOD PROBLEMS: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY VIEW Available for $3.00 from Photo Duplication Office, Iowa State University Library, Ames, IA 50011. (An up-to-date bibliography for in-depth research)
LET THEM EAT PROMISES by Nick Kotz. New York: Doubleday, 1971. Paperback - $1.95. (A reportorial style case study of the way in which the government has been dealing with domestic hunger)
FOOD FOR PEOPLE – NOT FOR PROFIT by Lerza & M. Jacobson. New York: Ballantine, 1975. Cost $1.95.
EAT YOUR HEART OUT: FOOD PROFITEERING IN AMERICA by Jim Hightower. New York: Quadrangle, New York Times Book Company, 1975. (Former member of the Agribusiness Accountability Project staff takes a hard look at the quality of the food on supermarket shelves as well as those who reap the profits.)
NEW HOPE FOR THE HUNGRY? By Larry Minear. New York: Friendship Press, 1974. Cost $1.75. (A well-written popular review of the world food problem including data on the role of the churches.)
FROM THE GROUP UP: BUILDING A GRASS ROOTS FOOD POLICY Center for Science in the Public Interest, 1755 S. Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20009. (A Handbook for action for those wishing to reform the food policies of their city, county or state.)
CHURCH AND SOCIETY, Issue of Hunger USA Nov-Cec 1975. (Available from 475 Riverside Drive, Rm 572, New York, NY 10027. $.90 each)
FARMERS SPEAK ON WORLD HUNGER Available from the American Lutheran Church Task Force on World Hunger, 422 South Fifth Street, Minneapolis, MN 55415. (The report of a meeting of farmer-member of the ALC convened in February 1975 at Wartburg College, addressed these issues: Should the U.S. farmer strive to produce more? What of changes in consumption patterns among the well-fed?)
ORGANIZATIONS
BREAD FOR THE WORLD A Christian citizens movement that lobbies in Congress for legislation to fight hunger. It publishes a monthly newsletter and organizes local groups. For more information or membership ($10 a year, $5 for students), write Bread for the World, 207 East 16th St, New York, NY 10003. Phone 212-260-7000.
WHEAT – WORLD HUNGER EDUCATION/ACTION TOGETHER A cooperative effort of twelve denominations that works on all aspects of the problem. For more information write: WHEAT, National Council of the Churches of Christ, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 634, New York, NY 10027. Phone 212-870-2331.
FOOD ACTION CENTER OF THE NATIONAL STUDENT ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION A student-run agency that works with students and faculty across the country on food and hunger issues. Their paper, The Food Action Exchange is available on request. 2115 S Street N.W., Washington, DC 20008.
CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST 1757 S Street N.W., Washington, DC 20009. Write to them for information on Food Day, a day set aside to focus on food and hunger issues.
WORKING GROUP ON DOMESTIC HUNGER AND POVERTY Room 564, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10027. Phone: 212-870-2307.
FOOD RESEARCH AND ACTION CENTER 25 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10019. Phone: 212-354-7866.
COMMUNITY NUTRITION INSTITUTE 1910 K Street N.W., Washington, DC 20006. Phone: 202-833-2730.
CHILDREN’S FOUNDATION 1028 Connecticut Avenue N.W., Suite 1112, Washington, DC 20036. Phone: 202-296-4451.
CHILDREN NUTRITION PROJECT 303 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. Phone: 201-863-1161.
INTERRELIGIOUS TASKFORCE ON U.S. FOOD POLICY 110 Maryland Avenue N. E., Washington, DC 20002. Phone: 202-543-1126.
SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON NUTRITION AND HUMAN NEEDS U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510.
FOOD NUTRITION SERVICE U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC
FILMS AND FILMSTRIPS
WORLD HUNGER An entire brochure of films, filmstrips and slides is available from TeleKETICS. Write for the brochure from: TeleKETICS, Franciscan Communications Center, 1229 South Santee Street, Los Angeles, CA 90015.
OTHER MATERIALS
ECHO PROJECT OUTLINE The outline for the Eau Claire Campus Hunger Organization (see actions taken page) is available from the LSM-USA office. LSM-USA, 35 East Wacker Drive, Suite 1847, Chicago, IL, 60601.
“GOOD NEWS AND GOOD FOOD” A Lenten Series developed by the Rev. Don Conrad, campus pastor at the University of Kansas. This series could be used effectively at any time to explore the food issue, especially in its Biblical context. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to: Rev. Don Conrad, 2104 West 15th Street, Lawrence, KS 66044.