A Month of Potlucks

Have you seen the latest issue of Christian Century?  Hunger is the main story line and seen on the front cover.  Check it out here.

Care to engage a dialogue concerning this issue?  If so, post your comments here or check us out on Facebook.

Registration for the first ever Hunger Huddle will go live in September. Mark your calendars now – Nov. 5, with an option day of advocacy and action on Nov. 6.

Confirmed speakers include ELCA World Hunger, ELC Washington Office, local LSS Food Pantry, and President of Foods Resource Bank – there will also be opportunity to share what hunger work you are doing as well as worship @ Trinity Lutheran Seminary.

Cost is low – $45 per person, which includes lunch, drinks and snacks throughout the day.
* Seminary students and retired clergy are free, except for the cost of food – $10.

Mark your calendars now – more information will be coming regarding hotels, agenda, etc…

I was doing a bit of statistical updating on the website and thought I would share a few bits of our collective progress.

So far we have 83 Potlucks to End World Hunger scheduled for this year, with many of those having already taken place!  We’ve had 17 congregations/communities report their results (if you have hosted your potluck and haven’t reported your results yet simply click here.)

We have 29 out of 50 states participating so far.  We’re shooting for 40, so if you know people, congregations or communities in the following states, won’t you ask them to jump on board with us? (ID, NV, WY, AK, OK, AR, MS, AL, TN, KY, NC, GA, SD, WV, DE, MA, RI, NH, VT, ME, HI) Check out our map to see where these Potlucks to End World Hunger are taking place.

Of the 17 reporting so far there has been a total of 621 people participating and a total of $4,075 donated to ELCA World Hunger. This averages out to about $6.56 per person.  Way to go!

I will be doing some intense scheduling and tracking work in the coming weeks, so these numbers are sure to change.  Please, if you haven’t yet reported take just a few minutes and do so, it will help us dramatically!

Watch in the coming week for details and registration for the 1st Annual Hunger Huddle Conference – to be hosted at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, OH.  This will be a day to Educate ourselves on some issues of hunger, to equip ourselves to be stronger Advocates for hunger, and finally will provide some optional time to take Action in the Columbus community, working with some agencies/ministries that fight hunger every day.  Don’t miss out on being a part of this first ever Huddle with guest speakers from ELCA World Hunger, from the ELCA Washington Office, from an LSS Food Pantry/Hunger ministry and hopefully from an ecumenical hunger ministry (still working that out).

Together we are partnering through: Education, Advocacy and Action!

“…Poverty did not come from God … God created enough for everyone.. The people of God are responsible to care for each other and to treat every person with dignity because every person was created by God.”

These words from Dr. Victoria Cortez Rodríguez, bishop of the Nicaraguan Lutheran Church of Faith and Hope struck me as I read them in a news release.  I think they struck me because there can not be a larger truth spoken.  Poverty is not a gift from God, but a symptom of our brokenness.  Hunger and poverty are indicative of our sinful nature.  When we turn inward and are concerned for our reality alone, unjust distribution and unbalanced environments (due to war, pollution and greed) develop.  That God has provided this earth and all its inhabitants with abundance is without question.  How we manage and share this abundance is where we drop the ball.

But there are ways to turn back and work to ensure that poverty is eradicated and hunger is eliminated – so that all God’s creation has access to the abundance that God provides.  Our work through A Month of Potlucks to End World Hunger is just one piece in this turning – as together we work to educate ourselves about the real issues of hunger, to engage in advocacy to make real change politically and economically to end hunger, and to actively work and serve in ministries and agencies that are the hands and feet of hunger locally.

So thanks for your partnership and if you are for another way to engage in the area of hunger advocacy check out ELCA’s Washington Office’s Advocacy information regarding the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act and step up to speak up to your national elected officials to ensure they know that this matters and that you expect them to act!

Poverty did not come from God, but our call to act to end hunger did!  Step up.  Step out. End hunger!

Partners at the time of this posting we currently have 74 congregations scheduled to host (or have already hosted) their 2010 Potluck to End World Hunger!  That’s 24 above our first goal, and 9 above our second goal.  And we have now reached into over 50% of the states in the U.S.A!  Way to go!  Mike and I are extremely pleased and happy to have so many other people and communities across the country recognize our need to be about education, advocacy, and action in the area of hunger in our world.

Yet, there’s another number – reporting!  That’s right, in order to give a full picture and more accurate image of the real work that we can do together, we must have people report the results of their event.  So please, please report your results.  Truly name, date, number in attendance, money raised, community partner, and a few evaluation questions for us are so vital!

So take a moment and report your results – or, watch for a phone call from one of us or a partner in ELCA World Hunger who is helping us out.  We are all busy and life get’s running after our events – but reporting takes just a few minutes.  It will help us know how we are working together, and what we can do in the future to make our work together more effective and far reaching.  So report, report, report!

Next post – information about the opening of registration for the First Annual HUNGER HUDDLE Conference in Columbus, OH in November!  You want to be there so check back and check back often!