Hungry people need our help right now--we have the power to make a difference!

Following is a message from Bread for the World about the current crisis. It's easy to feel helpless when you watch people around the world suffering for lack of food. Please sign up for the Recipe of Hope campaign and be part of the solution.

It's in the news nearly every day: Food prices are soaring worldwide and hunger is rising. More low-income people in the United States are making trips to food banks, where stocks are quickly depleting. For the world's poorest people in developing countries—who spend up to 80 percent of their income to buy food—the situation is even more devastating.

But you have the power to make a difference in this global hunger crisis. Bread for the World is launching an emergency Recipe for Hope campaign which will run from Mother's Day, May 11, through Father's Day. We will help hunger activists raise awareness and take action. Each week, an email from Bread will offer the ingredients for a:

• Recipe for Despair—more information on the causes of this crisis
  
• Recipe for Hope—specific actions you can take to help end it

It’s easy to feel helpless when you watch people around the world suffering for lack of food. Join Bread for the World's Recipe for Hope and be part of the solution.

Mother's Day Recipe: Ingredient for Despair: Rising Fuel Prices You've likely felt the impact of rising fuel prices at the gas station. The cost of a barrel of crude oil has doubled in a year, reaching a new record. Higher oil and energy prices affect the entire chain of food production, from fertilizer to harvesting to storage and delivery. People in the United States are seeing these increases in their grocery bills. Poor people in developing countries are hit even harder, since these countries must import food to feed their citizens. The Washington Post put it well in a recent special series, "As prices skyrocket, those who can least afford it are squeezed the most as the world confronts the worst bout of food inflation since the Soviet grain crisis of the 1970s." Read Rising Food Prices: Impact on the Hungry by the World Food Program. Ingredients for Hope: Join the campaign and sign up to receive weekly emails and tell-a-friend.

Thank you for your efforts,

David Beckmann
President
Bread for the World