Trade Week of Action on the Right to Food

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Trade Week of Action: Right to Food Booklet
Just published in August 2008, this revised Trade Week booklet introduces the Trade Week of Action on the Right to Food at a time when food prices are pushing millions more into poverty. The guide explores the interactions between trade, agriculture, food and human rights. It considers what the Bible has to say about trade and food, and tells the stories of real people affected by free trade policies. The guide offers action ideas, liturgy and other worship resources.
Download the booklet now - 1.14MB

All the educational and workshop materials you need can be found on the Trade Week of Action Web site, developed by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, a partner organization of the PC(USA):

• more about the week
• worship materials (adaptable Word documents!)
• stories of people impacted by unjust trade
• campaign tools (such as posters, banners, T-shirt designs, bulletin covers and logos)
• background about what's wrong with current trade rules

• activity ideas and much more.

The wonders of creation exceed imagination!

Thanks to Jamie Pharr, who sent this to me!

It's been said that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish... all before making a human. He made and provided what we'd need before we were born. These are best and more powerful when eaten raw.

God left us a great clue as to what foods help what part of our body! God's Pharmacy! Amazing!

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Avocados, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.

Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

A new take on eating out.

On Friday night Paul and I decided to go to a local restaurant for dinner. We were tired of chain restaurants, we find the food is always too salty and we wanted some variety. So we headed out with Italian in mind. After some suggestions from my sister we found a nice Italian place that was family owned in Point Pleasant. It was an amazing experience. Our waitress I believe was one of the owners of the place. Everything including the salad dressing was homemade. That was very refreshing and some of the best salad dressing I have had in a long time. Salad for me was followed by some of the best stuffed shrimp I have ever had, there was nothing frozen about them and there was actually real crab meat in them nothing imitation. Paul went with chicken Parmesan which he thoroughly enjoyed. We ended with a homemade Cannoli. The waitress warned us there was no processed cream in it and we may not like the texture because it was made from real ricotta cheese. It was delightfully refreshing and not as heavy as your typical cream filled dessert. The waitress was so kind she even told us how to make them at home.

To be honest it reminded me of eating at my Grandma’s house. Everything was fresh and homemade and the waitress made us feel like we were family. She even pointed out the weekly specials for what we ordered so we could come back again and save money. Paul and I decided not only would we go back again but that from now on our dinners out will not be at chain food services. We had much better food and service. I am the daughter of a long time small business owner so it made me feel good to patronize someone local. I even remarked to Paul that we should use small local businesses more often. So I guess you can say this is day that I wrote off the big chain restaurants for dinner and replaced them with smaller places and better food and service.

~Becca

Eisenhower got it!

Whether or not you support the war in Iraq, you should be aware of its costs--especially the effect on the most vulnerable in our society.

This is an excerpt from a speech by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1953. My guess is that 55 years later, the numbers would need updating but the truth is still there.

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

This world in arms is not spending money along. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.

"The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete pavement.

"We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people."

Then a Miracle Occurs

Do you believe in miracles? And did you ever wonder exactly when does a miracle occur? Something happened late last week. It was the culmination of years of work by many people. What was the miracle? Were there more than one? When did it happen? I'd like to hear what you think!

There is a cartoon called "Then a miracle occurs" in which a "rubber meets the sky" type of person has drawn a flowchart with a box that says "then a miracle occurs" to make his vision happen. [if you want to see this, you have to google it] Next to him is a "rubber meets the road" guy who says, "I think you should be more explicit here in step 2." Having been a "rubber meets the road" type who works for a vision of something better, I always appreciate when miracles occur. A miracle happened last week when the Coalition of Imokalee Workers signed an agreement with Burger King to improve farmworkers' wages and enforce human rights standards in the fields.

And I think it's worth celebrating that Monmouth Presbytery helped to make it happen. About 50 people who attended meetings at the Presbytery Center added their signatures to a petition that was delivered to Burger King headquarters last month. Plus there were all those students at Rutgers University who signed up at a table I had at their Tent State University. And, of course, PC(USA) leaders like Clifton Kirkpatrick and Linda Valentine. We are part of that miracle!

May 23, 2006 – Today, the CIW and Burger King Corporation signed an agreement to improve farmworkers’ wages and enforce human rights standards in the fields!

A signing ceremony and press conference took place in Washington, D.C. at the U.S. Capitol, hosted by Senator Bernie Sanders.

Your prayers, your participation in marches, the incredible number of signatures you garnered in the petition campaign, and your ongoing letters and emails to Burger King made this victory possible.

We read in Hebrews 11:1 that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Through faith we know that this agreement is a harbinger of that soon-coming day, when the entire fast-food and grocery industry will embrace these human rights standards, and farmworkers will enjoy a fair wage and humane working conditions. As we celebrate this human rights victory, let us also renew our comittment to keep walking together with the CIW until we see that day dawns.

• Read a related story by the Presbyterian News Service: Burger King and CIW strike deal – PC(USA)-backed farmworkers will receive higher wages, improved work conditions

Cents-Ability Grants in Monmouth Presbytery

The Cents-Ability Grants Committee—a group made up of representatives from every congregation that participates in the program—had done its homework. There was a committee charter, guidelines for grants, an application form, and requests for funding from hunger ministries within the bounds of the Presbytery. They lit a candle to remind them of Jesus’ presence, prayed for guidance, checked on how much money was available, and discussed each application with care. By the end of the meeting, a consensus had been reached and grants totaling $4,250 ma de to The Christian Caring Center, Forked River Hunger Action Team’s Summer Program, the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, Lunch Break, The Center in Asbury Park, St. Gregory’s Pantry in Point Pleasant, Jamesburg Presbyterian Church Deacons Food Cupboard, and the Samaritan Center. We thank God for the faithfulness and stewardship of the committee, for the gifts that came from so many, and the ministries that will be made possible from all those pennies!

The Christian Caring Center –Pemberton: $1,000. This program serves Continental breakfast and a hot cooked lunch 6 days/week. They also go out to the woods on Wednesdays and Fridays to a population that lives there. They bring lunch, talk to them about services available to them and offer support. In 2007 12, 976 meals were served. In addition, this program offers homeless survival kits: pop top can goods, non cooking foods, fruit juices, crackers, etc. They are also working to help individuals escape from welfare dependency and achieve economic self-dependency; as well as reduce the incidence of Hunger in Burlington County caused by lack of adequate food and nutrition.

Forked River Presbyterian Church – Hunger Action Team Summer Program: $400. This is a new program at Forked River, aimed at providing fresh produce to the hungry and breakfast/lunch bags for children – once a month from June-September. They have identified a specific need during the summer months – the children who normally receive free or reduced breakfast/lunch at school, are without that supplement during the summer months. They hope to expand this program as time goes on.

Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean County - $500. The Food Bank distributes to food pantries throughout Monmouth and Ocean Counties. As such, they are affiliated with America’s Second Harvest, a program which not only addresses hunger, but also waste of food products, and the root causes of hunger, and how we can begin to alleviate them.

St. Gregory’s Pantry (Point Pleasant): $1000. An emergency food pantry, which operates year round, serving families in need in the greater Point Pleasant area. St. Gregory’s gives temporary aid (a 4 day supply of food and personal items) to approximately 1200 individuals annually. 200-250 additional families are assisted during the holidays. They serve the elderly, young single mothers, persons with illness or disability, and low-income working families.

Lunch Break (Red Bank): $300. Monmouth County’s first “soup kitchen” this organization provides free hot and nutritious lunches Monday-Friday to 60 – 100 men, women and children. More than 20 lunches are taken to the homebound. Social, Medical and legal services are available on site. Clothing, baby supplies and special food baskets are also offered throughout the year. On a yearly basis, Lunch Break serves over 24,000 people.

The Center in Asbury Park: $300. The Center serves over 50 hot lunches to those afflicted with HIV/AIDS living in Monmouth and Ocean Counties. The Center also houses 25 formerly homeless individuals on site. Their volunteers offer love and support to these neediest of people.

Jamesburg Presbyterian Church – Deacons Food Cupboard: $250. The Food Cupboard is currently expanding its operation to a handicapped accessible facility. The grant will assist in completing the relocation.

Samaritan Center, Inc.(Manalapan-Englishtown): $500. This food bank serves working poor families by providing supplemental weekly groceries, as well as school supplies for children, and holiday food baskets. The program provides basic needs for approximately 83 families – 70% of whom cannot get help from other social services organizations because they make too much money.

Food for Thought: "The Eyes of All . . . "

The food crisis is very much in the news these days. An article on the Presbyterian Hunger Program website begins with this: “The food crisis has reached violent extremes. Yet food riots are like flare-ups from the hot coals of widespread, preventable hunger.” With rising food prices, in addition to the approximately 854 million people in the world who go hungry, another 100 million people are at risk of starvation, while a billion of us are overfed. Denial, helplessness, and fear of not being able to do anything are common reactions to such numbers—but we are called to something better.

Each year on Pentecost we read Psalm 104:24-34, 35b. It tells us that God’s wisdom abounds in all of nature and that all creatures are made by God and all belong to God. But verse 27 gets at the crux of the matter: “The eyes of all look to you to give them their food in due season.” Which seems to imply that when people are not fed, when 1 child dies every 5 seconds, God is somehow absent—or seems to be absent, perhaps in an especially heartbreaking way to women who already suffer disproportionately from hunger (70% of hungry people are women and girls). It also gives us a warning, in the first part of verse 35 (now why is this cut out of the official lectionary reading??): “Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more.” We are accountable.

Recently I visited three locations with Derrick Boykin, the Northeast Regional Organizer for Bread for the World. We wanted to talk with people and see if there was interest in starting a Bread for the World chapter in central and southern New Jersey. Derrick gave a persuasive presentation on hunger, mentioning many of the statistics we are so familiar with. Then he drew a chart with two columns.

On one side was a list of all the things churches do to fight hunger. We named the usual: food pantries and soup kitchens and fund raising. Churches do these things really well. On the other side we listed the causes of hunger. We came up with things like poverty, natural disasters, war, agricultural policies, food policies, and environmental degradation. He didn’t need to say any more; the message was clear: much of what we do is necessary and we must do it—but it is only a Band-Aid that alleviates hunger, when what we really need is to eliminate its causes.

The Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP) works to alleviate hunger and eliminate its causes. Direct Food Relief is just one of five program areas; others are Development Assistance, Lifestyle Integrity, Education and Interpretation, and Influencing Public Policy (we do a lot in partnership with Bread for the World).

On Pentecost, the church was born when the Holy Spirit came and breathed new life into everyone and gave everyone the gift of bold speech. In this season after Pentecost, please add your voice to the chorus of those who speak out and seek justice for the world’s hungry people. Learn about the issues; hold an Offering of Letters; send e-mails, make phone calls; meet with your senators and representatives—they need our encouragement, they need to know we’re there. It’s a good time to claim the gifts of the Holy Spirit for ourselves to move from fear and helplessness and denial to a life that is truly abundant—for everyone. Perhaps God’s eyes are waiting on us!

Wishing you traveling mercies and many glimpses of redemption on your journey with Jesus