On Wednesday, November 30, 2011 Fighting Poverty with Faith held a multifaith event of prayer, information sharing, and a call to action in the NJ State House. The theme of this event was “working together to end hunger” The Diocese of Newark and The Diocese of New Jersey were among 30 groups that co-sponsored the event.
The program started with prayer led by The Reverend Darrell Armstrong, Shiloh Baptist Church, Trenton. This was followed by brief presentations given by representatives of the 4 major religions present – Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Clearly social justice and care for those who are less fortunate is a mandate in each of these religions. As The Reverend Bruce Davidson (Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry) stated, sharing our material blessings with those who are poor “is the first and central message” of Paul’s letters and the Gospels. Rabbi Amy Small talked about how poverty can affect families for generations while the Jewish tradition calls us to strive for a just and righteous world. Care for the poor is a pillar of faith in each of the faith traditions of Islam and Hinduism.
Representatives of Governor Christie and Senator Lautenberg talked about the progress that has been made in funding nutrition and anti-poverty programs on both the executive and the legislative fronts. The good news is that the state will continue to fund the SFPP (State Food Purchase Program) thereby securing a supply of food for many of the pantries in our churches. In addition, the state will be supplying additional funds to purchase more nutritious food. The goal is for the food banks to purchase up to 30% of their supplies from Jersey Fresh. The representative from Senator Lautenberg’s office encouraged people to communicate to elected officials their concerns around hunger and nutrition. This will keep these issues top-of-mind as new budgets are being drafted.
Adele Latourette (NJ Anti-Hunger Coalition) stated that more still needs to be done. While 1.1 million people in NJ are food insecure, only 800,000 actually qualify for benefits. While the average cost of a meal in NJ is $2.68, food stamps only cover $1.43, forcing people to purchase low nutrition foods. While thousands of NJ students qualify for the USDA school breakfast and lunch programs, few are able to participate in the breakfast program when food is served at a time that students are not present. So much has been done. There is so much left to do.
Call to Action
As we were reminded by the Reverend Lisanne Finston from Elijah’s Promise, we cannot separate talking about our faith from acting on our faith. Three specific calls to action were made at this event. First, walk in someone else’s shoes by taking the Food Stamp challenge. Join members of the Community Foodbank of NJ who will try living for a week on $31 of food per person which is the average food stamp benefit. This challenge is designed to help each of us realize how complicated it is to avoid hunger, afford nutritious foods, and stay healthy. See www.njfoodbank.org/challenge for more information. Second, write your state and federal elected officials asking them to reject all proposals to cut and/or cap the various nutrition assistance programs on which our elderly and families in need rely. You can write to your elected officials through www.commoncause.org. As Episcopalians, we can find other ideas and resources at The Episcopal Network for Economic Justice (www.enej.org). Finally, there was a call to action around prayer. Our prayer to “give us today our daily bread” becomes a threshold to feeding all of our brothers and sisters around the world.
