Thanksgiving is America’s time to gather with friends and family to share a delicious feast. It involves giving thanks for having enough food to eat and having people with whom one can share love, reflections and good company.One would think that in a country of such enormous abundance and wealth that everyone would be able to share and enjoy plenty on this national holiday. But according to these statistics, nearly one out of every six American families have had trouble getting enough food in recent years. While we can certainly attribute this fact to the recent economic downturn and rising unemployment, this study showed that even before the recession began, more than two-thirds of families with children who were defined as “food insecure” under federal guidelines contained one or more full-time workers. Food banks and meal programs are stretching themselves to the limit to serve more people impacted by increasing hunger in America.
For the last three years, the Lutheran Peace Fellowship has been implementing the "Lutheran Hunger Volunteer Training and Support Project" to help support and train volunteers in U.S. hunger programs. This project has great potential to help by offering effective support, resources, and workshops to strengthen and expand a crucial element in Lutheran hunger programs: the core volunteers and leaders.
LPF’s expertise in these areas has such respect that in 2009 we were awarded a grant from Wheat Ridge Ministries to support the project. But there is much work still to be done. Please consider making a generous donation to LPF to help us keep this vital project going.
LPF offers the following free online resources to raise awareness of and take action to end hunger in America, and throughout the world:
Hunger Resources
Hunger Awareness Meal - This experiential meal illuminates hunger and poverty in the world.
Hunger advocacy: Here´s how you can make yourself heard, and how to send your message to your representative
Hunger and Development Links
Advocacy Alert: 2012 Farm Bill
This Thanksgiving, LPF is thankful as ever to you, our supporters. We thought of you when we read this interview with Anne Lamott on her new book "Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Survival Prayers," about asking for guidance, offering gratitude and expressing wonder. We give thanks for God and for you!
