Session 3
Download this week's toolkit [PDF]

Focus: Give Us Hope

• To believe in God's Grand Design
• To believe in “Love and good food for all”
• To continue our journey to end hunger, no matter how powerless we feel
• To choose hope over cynicism, to choose hope over fear
       • Consider the UN Millennium Goal: “Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty by 2015”
       • Consider the Obama Administration’s Goal: “End Childhood hunger by 2015”
       • Consider the Strategic Focus for both Pennsylvania and Philadelphia:
            - Enhancing nutrition for all
            - Increasing access to local fresh food produce
            - Maximizing utilization and impact of federal nutrition programs
            - Strengthening public-private food assistance partnerships

First Things First: Learning the Facts

It’s hard to hope for a solution to hunger when there is so much evidence in our city that the problem is only getting worse. But if we don’t hope, who will? And if we don’t keep walking forward against the tides of hunger and poverty, nothing will change.

By far the most effective assists to hunger relief in Philadelphia are the federal government SNAP (food stamp) and the schools breakfast, lunch and after-school feeding programs.  New federal government programs are aiming to increase nutritious content and “home cooked” value in these programs.  Access to, education around, and increased consumption of fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grain products is essential for all.

As government legislation is introduced on these important public policy issues, we will be encouraging you to write letters to government officials to support these critically important funding game-changers.

If you want to learn more about the history of our nation’s food stamp program, watch “Making America Stronger, the US Food Stamp Program,” a bipartisan evaluation. (14 minutes in length)

Wondering what you can DO to build your hope that we can do something about hunger in Philadelphia?

See what can be done when good public policy, concerned citizens and creativity come into play.

• See Baltimore’s recipe for fighting hunger in their city.  Read how Tony Geraci, head of the Food and Nutrition Department at Baltimore City Schools,  is partnering with local growers and planting a 33-acre farm to bring in fresh produce by the bushel. Geraci has launched Great Kids Farm in Catonsville, which provides fresh fruits and vegetables for school cafeterias, allows the kids to farm, and  introduces Meatless Mondays. In addition, a move is in the works to start a central kitchen facility which would provide nutritious meals to the many schools that do not have the cooking capabilities for anything other than heating up frozen meals. Watch the news clip.

• See how The Food Trust is stirring up acclaimed collaboration with the The Reinvestment Fund and the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition, to get supermarkets into underserved neighborhoods through their Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative (FFFI). Just a decade ago, a national study showed that Philadelphia had the second lowest number of supermarkets per capita of major cities in the United States. Lack of food access in low-income neighborhoods is linked to high rates of diet-related diseases such as obesity and diabetes. FFFI is a prime example of the type of collaborative partnership and innovative thinking needed in urban and metropolitan communities across the nation. Watch the news clip.

• See how City Harvest, a community-based network, is modeling hope and shalom in community in a beautifully pastoral and holistic way. 
Inmates of the Philadelphia Prison System (with guidance from Pennsylvania Horticultural Society staff) grow seeds into seedlings at a recently refurbished greenhouse at the prison in Northeast Philadelphia. These seedlings are transplanted into the prison’s Roots-to-Reentry garden or brought to one of 42 participating community gardens. The resulting produce is distributed to food cupboards throughout the city. See the PDF version.

Things you can do:

• Start thinking about what you might do. Are you setting aside your soup supper savings?
• Start writing. Write to thank and encourage the continued leadership efforts of these hunger / food security leaders: US Senator Bob Casey; State Senator Mike Brubaker (R), Lancaster Pa.; And Rep. John Meyers (D), Philadelphia Pa.  They have been and are faithfully committed to this issue.  Click here for a sample letter to get you started.  Click here for the mailing addresses of these elected officials.
• Keep walking!! Increase your walk by 10 percent. If you’ve asked a friend to join you, ask two more. Prayerfully reflect on hope as you walk.

Prayer for Hope Before Soup Supper

Litany – read responsively as a family or a congregation.
Adapted from Bread for the World.

Leader: I was hungry and you gave me food.
People: Let us act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with our God.
Leader: I was thirsty and you gave me drink.
People: Let us act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with our God.
Leader: I was a stranger and you welcomed me.
People: Let us act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with our God.
Leader: I was naked and you clothed me.
People: Let us act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with our God.
Leader: I was ill and you comforted me.
People: Let us act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with our God.
All: God, true light and source of all Light, may we recognize you in...
Leader: under-employed and unemployed people,
People: food-worried and hungry people,
Leader: home-worried and homeless people,
All: And in each other.

Suggested Recipe

Spicy Split Pea Soup

Extra Credit

Get up to speed quickly by reading “How much do you know about Hunger in America?”