Happy Thanksgiving

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.

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 give thanks for God and for you!

World Food Day

World Food Day is celebrated every year around the world on 16 October in honor of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945.

LPF Hunger Resources, LPF Hunger and Development Links, LPF Advocacy Alert: 2012 Farm Bill

World Food Day Website
Wikipedia article
World Food Day USA Directory of Organizations
World Food Day Sunday Dinner
Bread for the World
ELCA World Hunger Program
Healthy food and food systems, Vibrant farms and rural communities
"Taking Root" five-part congregation education program on hunger.
Greenhorns - recruit, promote and support the new generation of young American farmers.
Via Campesina - International Peasant's Movement
Food First - Institute for Food and Development Policy

Simplicity Day

“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.”
-- Henry David Thoreau

Simplicity Day on July 12th celebrates the birthday of Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) who encouraged us to simplify our lives.

Here is a great video from this website on the "Story of Stuff" The Story of Solutions explores how we can move our economy in a more sustainable and just direction, starting with orienting ourselves toward a new goal.

Check out all our many other resources about this remarkable movement: Simple Living Resources from LPF

Happy Thanksgiving

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.

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 give thanks for God and for you!

World Food Day

World Food Day is celebrated every year around the world on 16 October in honor of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945.

LPF Hunger Resources, LPF Hunger and Development Links, LPF Advocacy Alert: 2012 Farm Bill

World Food Day Website
Wikipedia article
World Food Day USA Directory of Organizations
World Food Day Sunday Dinner
Bread for the World
ELCA World Hunger Program
Healthy food and food systems, Vibrant farms and rural communities
"Taking Root" five-part congregation education program on hunger.
Greenhorns - recruit, promote and support the new generation of young American farmers.
Via Campesina - International Peasant's Movement
Food First - Institute for Food and Development Policy

Simplicity Day

“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.”
-- Henry David Thoreau

Simplicity Day on July 12th celebrates the birthday of Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) who encouraged us to simplify our lives.

Here is a great video from this website on the "Story of Stuff" The Story of Solutions explores how we can move our economy in a more sustainable and just direction, starting with orienting ourselves toward a new goal.

Check out all our many other resources about this remarkable movement: Simple Living Resources from LPF

Happy Thanksgiving

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!

World Food Day

World Food Day is celebrated every year around the world on 16 October in honor of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945.

LPF Hunger Resources, LPF Hunger and Development Links, LPF Advocacy Alert: 2012 Farm Bill

World Food Day Website
Wikipedia article
World Food Day USA Directory of Organizations
World Food Day Sunday Dinner
Bread for the World
ELCA World Hunger Program
Healthy food and food systems, Vibrant farms and rural communities
"Taking Root" five-part congregation education program on hunger.
Greenhorns - recruit, promote and support the new generation of young American farmers.
Via Campesina - International Peasant's Movement
Food First - Institute for Food and Development Policy

Simplicity Day

“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.”
-- Henry David Thoreau

Simplicity Day on July 12th celebrates the birthday of Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) who encouraged us to simplify our lives.


Check out all our many resources about this remarkable movement: Simple Living Resources from LPF

Congressional budget compromise . . .

Most of the country seems relieved that Congress will depart from DC with a budget deal. Their recess is actually an ideal time for them to hear a holiday message from constituents who care about the gospel call for us to be justice seekers and peacemakers. 

Indeed, There is a lot to celebrate about Congress negotiating its way out of yet another painful budget standoff. But the details are pretty sobering as well. Here’s a brief summary of the budget deal: 

The plus side: It doesn't cut Social Security, Medicare, Medi- caid, etc. And it backs away from over two years of destructive actions: Fiscal cliff, debt limit, sequester, government shutdown... all very damaging to many programs -- and with the threat of default, they put both the U.S. and the global economy at risk.

On the negative side: The budget deal does nothing to reduce defense spending (or call for even the most obvious tax increases; or close tax loopholes). We are thus denied the resources needed to address the nation’s #1 priority: putting people back to work, esp. to help us take serious steps toward forstalling climate change, to expand renewable energy, to build infrastructure, to enhance rather than cut the safety net even further… 

Yet the budget deal allows unemployment benefits to expire for 1.3 million long-term unemployed workers. It leaves the sequester cuts largely in place -- which consigns most safety net programs to reduced levels and vulnerable to further cuts. The budget agreement is more a cease-fire than a solution to our budget dilemmas. 

What makes this especially unfortunate is that cutting the military budget offers a way out. It has huge programs that are wasteful. Others are unneeded in the new global security environment. A few notable programs are larger than even the Pentagon requested! This doesn’t point to thoughtful decision-making by Congress. Rather it’s evidence of the enormous influence of defense contractor lobbying. 

Our priority this month is experiencing the real meaning of Advent and Christmas. Spending time with family, congregation, and friends... 

Let’s also agree to share this information in our church groups and among friends. Let's use the Congressional recess to speak with our elected officials about bloated defense spending; and stingy levels to protect and serve the most vulnerable in our society. That's a holiday message our members of Congress need to hear!

Peacemakers Wanted!

In next few months we face an important set of public dis-

cussions and votes in Congress. The good news: the subject

 is both straightforward and familiar,  federal budget priorities.

  The bad news:  crucial safety net programs are again under

 threat,  while more reasonable solutions are again being

 ignored, like long overdue cuts in military spending. 

And much of the media isn’t very helpful in clarifying
even the most basic issues.  One could easily believe the
only question is deciding how much to cut Social Security. . .
or Medicare. . .  or food stamps. . .  Pres. Obama is portrayed
as a big spender; yet he has increased the deficit less than
any president in 50 years.  So what is missing here? 

Here’s how one commentator responded:  “No mention of the 

bloated ‘Defense’ budget… or the obscene tax breaks for wealthy 

people and corporations… or the Wall St. criminals who stole our 

future…  Nope, it's Grandma and her Social Security checks that 

are to blame.” (William Rivers Pitt, Truthout)  It isn’t likely we’ll
have the serious discussion we need concerning the real issues.

The ELCA, LPF, and hundreds of other faith based groups are 

calling for a “Circle of Protection” around key safety net programs 

like food stamps and WIC. We at LPF have a crucial contribution 

to make: despite big changes in the world, US defense spending 

hasn’t been reduced in ages – compared to major rivals, it is 4 

times what China and over 7 times what Russia allocate!  Cuts 

there could solve our budget problems, create more jobs, fund 

clean energy, support efforts to prevent wars… all of which 

would make us stronger and safer.  Members of Congress 

who share that view need our support; those locked in 

the status quo need our solid, sustained advocacy.

Download a copy of this advocacy update. Please contact us for more information and links on these issues:  For example, you might want to check out our newly updated computer-based activity on budget priorities which has received rave reviews from adult forum leaders across the country. It has worked equally well as a community event.  The computer activity is on our website or available from us on a CD – both have a leaders guide offering discussion options, handouts, tips. . .

Lutheran Peace Fellowship, 1710 11th Ave., Seattle 98122
 lpf@ecunet.org 206.349.2501, www.lutheranpeace.org

---

December 1. 2013

This year's theme is: 

"WORKING FOR YOUR RIGHTS."

"Where we come from does not determine who we can become. What we look like places no limits on what we can achieve. We should all have the right to express ourselves, all have the right to be heard, all have the right to be what we can be: To reach for the sky and touch the stars. No matter who we are, no matter whether we are man or woman, or rich or poor:
My voice, my right. My voice counts."

—Desmond Tutu, a key figure in the defeat of apartheid in South Africa, Nobel Prize Laureate, first black Archbishop of South Africa.

Links:
In honour of Human Rights Day this year, OUP have put together a selection of human rights related content ranging from journal and books articles across several disciplines to online products content from Oxford Bibliographies and University Press Scholarship Online.

They've made select content freely available for a limited time. Browse below and start reading immediately. http://www.oxfordjournals.org/page/5570/8

UN sites:

Human Rights (UN website)

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - Human Rights Day 2013

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

60 human rights instruments which together constitute an international standard of human rights.

Related sites:

Campaign for U.S. Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

Defence for Children International

World Day of Prayer and Action for Children

Lutheran resources:

Addressing Racism: Challenge for Peacemakers

Goodsoil

Lutheran Human Relations Association

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service

Reconciling Works

ELCA:

ELCA Ethnic Specific and Multicultural Ministries

Human Dignity and Human Rights

Human Rights and Family  - Journal of Lutheran Ethics - February 2009 issue

Human Rights - CSR program

videos:

>

Happy Thanksgiving

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!

World Food Day

World Food Day is celebrated every year around the world on 16 October in honor of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945.
The World Food Day theme for 2012 is "Agricultural cooperatives – key to feeding the world".  It has been chosen to highlight the role of cooperatives in improving food security and contributing to the eradication of hunger.
Interest in cooperatives and rural organizations is also reflected in the decision of the UN General Assembly to designate 2012 “International Year of Cooperatives.”
resources:
LPF Hunger Resources, LPF Hunger and Development Links, LPF Advocacy Alert: 2012 Farm Bill
World Food Day Website
Wikipedia article
World Food Day USA Directory of Organizations
World Food Day Sunday Dinner
Bread for the World
ELCA World Hunger Program
Healthy food and food systems, Vibrant farms and rural communities
"Taking Root" five-part congregation education program on hunger.
Greenhorns - recruit, promote and support the new generation of young American farmers.
Via Campesina - International Peasant's Movement
Food First - Institute for Food and Development Policy

Advocacy Alert: 2012 Farm Bill

Recent gains we’ve made in addressing both domestic and international hunger and poverty face their worst threat from Congress in years - just when a devastating drought is set to drive up food prices everywhere. The House version of the farm bill proposes deep cuts in world hunger programs – as well as in food stamps (SNAP) and aid to struggling rural communities in the U.S. Take action now

LPF Fall Update

Get the latest news about our plans for an upcoming LPF gathering, our ongoing work doing hunger outreach, and the new 2013 version of our Budget Game computer activity including a newly updated 12-page leaders guide with handouts for a variety of settings.  Click here: LPF´s Fall Update

Food Crisis In The Sahel and the Horn of Africa

Recurring droughts are causing chronic food insecurity all the way acros the Sahel region of West Africa to the Horn of Africa in the east. To address the food shortages threatening millions of lives, it is urgent that the world scales up humanitarian assistance. Such assistance from the US government may be cut substantially unless we advocate to protect the International Affairs Account from disproportionate cuts that provide essential food, water, and support to the millions of refugees around the world..
Urge your representative to protect funding for the lifesaving poverty-focused international humanitarian programs that support refugees who live in grave uncertainty and insecurity.   

TAKE ACTION

for more information:
Articles about the Crisis
LPF Advocacy Alert

Get ready for the economy of sharing

I used to wish for a giant returns counter where I could exchange stuff I didn’t need  for stuff I did need. Behind the counter would be a system for redistributing, reusing, or recycling goods, so that no “returns” were ever junked. We’d all get what we needed, less perfectly good stuff would sit idle in closets and garages, and a lot less new stuff would have to be made.
My dream is coming true. It’s called “collaborative consumption” – a trendy new term for the timeworn habit of sharing.     
Read more . . .

World Food Day

World Food Day is celebrated every year around the world on 16 October in honor of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945.

The World Food Day theme for 2011 is "Food prices - from crisis to stability". Price swings, upswings in particular, represent a major threat to food security in developing countries. Hardest-hit are the poor. According to the World Bank, in 2010-2011 rising food costs pushed nearly 70 million people into extreme poverty. Food prices are now at an all time high and have gone up 40% over the past 4 years. Prices for cereals have gone up even more with staples such as wheat up 64% and corn more than doubling in price in just the last year. This spike in food prices puts at risk the eradication of hunger and child malnutrition.

“FOOD PRICES – FROM CRISIS TO STABILITY” has been chosen as this year’s World Food Day theme to shed some light on this trend and what can be done to mitigate its impact on the most vulnerable.

On World Food Day 2011, let us look seriously at what causes swings in food prices, and do what needs to be done to reduce their impact on the weakest members of global society.

resources:

LPF Hunger Resources, Hunger and Development Links

World Food Day Website

Wikipedia article

FAO warns of high, volatile food price effects

They live in a world of plenty, but one in seven will go hungry today

World Food Day USA Directory of Organizations

World Food Day Sunday Dinner

Bread for the World

ELCA World Hunger Program

"Taking Root" five-part congregation education program on hunger.

Genetically Modified Foods and World Hunger

Stop Gambling on Hunger!

Much of the current world food crisis and skyrocketing grocery bills have their roots in the deregulation of US commodity markets over the past 15 years. Without these controls, speculators in the stock market can cause artificial food price spikes and shortages while they try to turn a profit. New financial reform laws such as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act seek to end such volotile speculation, but are at risk of being watered down before their implementation. Write a comment to the CFTC today to support reform and stop Wall Street from gambling on hunger.  
You can also check with the financial managers of your pensions/401ks, organizational endowments, etc. to make sure that your money is not invested in commodity derivatives. It has become en vouge to do so, so there is a decent chance that your money may be contributing to the problem.

ELCA World Hunger Video Series

One in six people in the world go to bed hungry every night. The ELCA World Hunger Program impacts the lives of millions of people around the world through a comprehensive and sustainable program that uses multiple strategies—relief, development, education, and advocacy—to address the root causes of hunger and poverty. ELCA World Hunger responds to neighbors around the corner and around the world. To meet some of the people helped by this vital program, check out this video series.