Bread for the World: Oregon
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04/16/2008

An effective response to hunger must combine private and public actions, neither can do the job alone. Christians have worked well in the private arena, Bread for the World provides a means where Christians can work equally well for effective public policies in the fight against hunger...


 

Upcoming Events

Portland area monthly meeting - 3rd Monday each month!
Next meeting: 

Note: The meeting is canceled for this month
Westminster Presbyterian (fireside room) 
1624 NE Hancock St, Portland

Map and directions


Announcing our 2008 Offering of Letters campaign 

What We Want to Achieve in 2008

 Healthcare workers demonstrate how to use an insecticide-treated bed net to combat malaria.

To combat malaria, healthcare workers demonstrate how to use an insectidice-treated bed net. Malarial kills more than 1 million people each year, most of them young children in sub-Saharan Africa.

photo by Margaret W. Nea

Bread for the World's 2008 Offering of Letters is pushing for more and better poverty-focused development assistance—funding for programs in the U.S. budget that give people in poor countries the skills and opportunities to break the cycle of poverty permanently. These include long-term investments in things like education, agriculture, nutrition, health and clean water.

The United States should provide more of this kind of assistance because we are not on track to meet the goals and fulfill the promises our country has made in recent years. And we must improve the way U.S. assistance is packaged and delivered so that it reaches those in greatest need with the maximum impact.

More and better poverty-focused development assistance is a critical component of the effort to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs are a set of eight achievable objectives adopted by the nations of the world in 2000 to improve the quality of life of hundreds of millions of poor people around the world. All nations promised to fulfill these goals by 2015.

The United States agreed to do its part.  In the past few years, the U.S. Congress has increased federal funding for poverty-focused assistance by about $1 billion a year, and other countries have followed suit by increasing their aid as well. Now, more kids are in school, and many fewer children are dying every day from preventable, hunger-related diseases. For the first time, villages in Africa and Latin America have new wells and access to clean water.  Now, there is hope for hundreds of thousands of Africans and Asians living with AIDS because they have received life-saving medication.

Bread for the World members played an important role in convincing Congress to approve the increases for these effective, hope-giving, poverty-reducing programs. We wrote letters to our representatives and senators. We called. We emailed. We told our nation's decision makers that helping our neighbors—whether they live next door or on another continent—is the right thing to do.  We insisted that everyone deserves the opportunity to live productive lives and provide for their children. In faith, we lifted our voices. And Congress listened.

But our work is not over. The increases we've won in poverty-focused assistance have made a difference, but we are not yet on track to fulfill our promises.  2015 looms ever closer. There are still too many people who live in extreme poverty, too many people who go to bed hungry every night, too many children not in school, too many children dying from preventable causes. We can do better.

Bread for the World's 2008 Offering of Letters is pushing for more and better poverty-focused development assistance.

That means:

  • Congress should increase its funding for poverty-fighting efforts by at least $5 billion a year, starting this coming year.

    Funding should be aimed at programs that most directly address the root causes of poverty and hunger.  The programs should encourage the participation of citizens from the targeted communities in crafting programs and setting priorities.
  • Congress should improve U.S. assistance to ensure the maximum benefit reaches those in greatest need.

    A first step would be to pass the Global Poverty Act (S. 2433), now in Congress.

    The Global Poverty Act would:
    • Make the first Millennium Development Goal (to cut in half the number of people who are hungry and the number of people living on less than $1 a day) an official part of U.S. policy.
    • Require a coordinated strategy to achieve this goal through U.S. aid, debt relief, and trade policies. The strategy would emphasize cooperation with other countries, international institutions, faith-based groups, and the private sector.

2008 is a critical year. To achieve the Millennium Development Goals we have to step up the pace. 2015 is just around the corner.

To see what kind of difference poverty-focused assistance can make in the lives of millions around the world, read Catherine's story…

Take Action on the 2008 Offering of Letters

Sample Letter to Congress

What is an Offering of Letters?

Biblical Basis

Watch this short video and you'll understand exactly how your efforts, and the work of Bread for the World, can make a difference in the lives of children like Catherine.

Watch in Real Player Real Player

Watch in Windows Media Player  Windows Media Player



Latest Updates : Bread for the World's Blogs

Click the links below the see the full articles.

Bread Oregon

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Bread Topics from national website

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Bread Blogs and News Updates

Bread Blog

Bread Institute Blog

Bread For The World
In The News

Hunger In The News


 

The ONE Campaign is an effort by Americans to rally Americans – one by one – to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty.  http://www.one.org

The ONE Campaign derives its name from the belief that allocating an additional one percent of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world's poorest countries. We also call for debt cancellation, trade reform and anti–corruption measures in a comprehensive package to help Africa and the poorest nations beat AIDS and extreme poverty.

Petition the candidates

ONE members are stepping up our game by launching a petition urging all the presidential candidates to go "On The Record" by submitting, in writing and on video to ONE, their plans on the following five issues:

* Eradicating malaria;
* Improving child and maternal health;
* Reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis;
* Achieving universal primary education; and
* Providing access to food and clean water for all.

ONE will then build an online tool so that everyone can compare the candidates' answers before heading out to vote in the primaries.

Please sign ONE's "On The Record" petition and encourage your friends and family to sign on as well.

http://www.one.org/ontherecord


Jubilee Oregon

What is Jubilee USA?

Founded in 1997, Jubilee USA Network is a network of 75 organizations – including religious denominations and faith-based networks, labor and environmental groups, regionally focused organizations, development agencies, and community groups. Jubilee USA Network’s mission is to create the political will for cancellation of crushing poor country debts through public education, mobilization, strategic communication, and research and policy advocacy. We envision a world in which external debt no longer impoverishes nations and peoples by diverting resources from health, education, and the natural. The Network is the US arm of a global Jubilee campaign that has successfully altered public policy, winning commitments of debt relief from the US government and other G-8 nations in 1999 and again in 2005. Current campaigns include holding world leaders accountable for 2005 commitments; building the political will for cancellation of debt to meet Millennium Development Goals; and cancellation of Odious and Illegitimate Debts.

Click here for more information

Jubilee Oregon blog entries

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Latest Blog Updates: One, Jubilee


"Medical Teams International has put together a truly remarkable exhibit on the scope of human suffering, the call to action, and what an effective response means to the lives of all involved. The exhibit is powerful and is a remarkable community resource which should be seen by all  (church groups, student groups, etc). It is a gift to our community from an outstanding organization". - Mike Hiland, Oregon Bread for the World 

This FREE exhibit includes 9 new rooms & 5 new vignettes.

In walk-through multi-sensory vignettes, you will step into:

  • A medical triage clinic at the New Orleans Convention Center after Hurricane Katrina
  • A room with a 25-foot tsunami wave
  • A Ugandan camp for people displaced by a rebel group that abducts children and forces them into their “army”
  • An Albanian refugee camp housing Kosovar refugees who fled from ethnic cleansing
  • A Mozambican village where HIV/AIDS has taken too many lives
  • A Mexico garbage dump where garbage-pickers live and work
  • A Romanian placement center for orphans and abandoned children
  • A burn unit in a Moldovan children’s hospital

"I Can Make a Difference"

The exhibit also empowers each person to learn, “I Can Make a Difference.” Like a pebble makes ripples in a pond, each of us can make a difference that will touch people around the world.

Location: Medical Teams International Headquarters
14150 SW Milton Ct.; Tigard, OR  97224
Map & directions

Hours of operation: Open House and by appointment

For more information & to schedule a tour, e-mail Laurel Emory or call her at 503.624.1000.


Conduct an Offering of Letters at your church

An offering of letters, is a letter writing event held at a church or campus urging our representatives to support effective action against hunger. For churches interested in planning an Offering of Letters, you can:

Bread is also active on many college campus' (its where I first heard of Bread many moons ago).

Hunger Issues Speaker

I am also available to come and speak before your church or group. Some ideas include: Adult Sunday School, Young Adults Group, Minute for Mission, Guest Sermon, Letter writing table, etc. Contact me (Mike Hiland) for more information. 
Review the sample presentation.

Additional Resources

Justice and the Bible

Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out; judge righteously. Defend the rights of the poor and the needy. (Proverbs 31:8-9)

Keep Informed:

  • You can signup for the National or Oregon Bread ENewsletters above, or to receive the monthly advocacy alert focusing on Oregon state government hunger issues send your name, address and email to: advocacy@oregonfoodbank.org

Action Alerts

 




 

Oregon Event Calendar