Photo by Flickr user elitatt

Years of working as a waitress in college and beyond taught me how creative some people can get with food. I was always fascinated at the complex and exciting dishes that chefs could prepare from some of the most unlikely combinations. Horseradish and mascarpone? Delicious! Ancho chile and cinnamon? Perfection!

Even still, I’m far more impressed by the creativity displayed by those who can’t afford exotic ingredients  and still manage to put together a meal for their families. Anybody can make something delicious with a kitchen stocked with fresh ingredients and an extensive spice rack. But it’s much more difficult to put together something when you have practically nothing to start with — like tens of millions of U.S. households today.

A new study from the Food and Research Action Center (FRAC) revealed that food spending has fallen dramatically in the past decade, particularly from 2000 to 2002 and 2006 to 2010 -- periods when the economy was struggling the most. Rising food and housing costs, combined with falling wages and inflation, caused millions to tighten their belts to unhealthy levels.

In the study, spending for the median household was measured against the Thrifty Food Plan, the absolute “barebones” food budget necessary for families to get by in emergencies, established by the U.S. government.  

The results of the latest study by the FRAC showed that spending on food for the median household fell from 1.36 times the Thrifty Food Plan level in 2000 to 1.19 times that level in 2010.

Considering the starkness of the Thrifty Food Plan, these numbers are devastating. Originally developed to help families in the Depression Era, the budget was called “The Economy Plan,” and was designed to be used only for a short, restricted period of time. And while this was considered basic survival, the standard for “reasonable measure of basic needs” for a healthy, sustainable diet was measured to be more than 25 percent higher than that of the Economy plan.

Successfully following the Thrifty Food Plan also requires several things that low-income families often do not have these days — easy access to inexpensive transportation and bulk food stores or supermarkets, facilities for food storage, knowledge of food preparation techniques and nutrition, and time to prepare meals from scratch (about 3.5 hours a day).

What does that mean? For most low-income families these days, successfully following the plan wouldn’t just require creativity — it would require a miracle.  

Emily Warne is media relations intern at Bread for the World.

Photo by Flickr user Veronique Debord

Way back in August, the Joint  Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or Super Committee, was charged with developing a plan to reduce our federal deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years. Why were they called the “Super Committee?” Because their recommendations would be given “superpowers,” so as to slide through Congress and quickly become law. The Super Committee had until Thanksgiving to produce something, but when November 23 came, they couldn’t do it, leaving most of us scratching our heads wondering, what happened?  You can read their statement here.

So, what happened? Well, this was a missed opportunity for moving ahead and putting our country on a fiscally sustainable path. But before turning away disheartened, let’s examine exactly why the Super Committee couldn’t produce a deal, and what this means for Congress’ 2012 agenda. More importantly, we need to understand what this means for our economy, prospects for the unemployed, and the millions of individuals relying on those federal assistance programs to help them put food on the table, provide for their families, and move out of poverty. The Interreligious Working Group on Domestic Human Needs (DHN) held a webinar last week on the outcome of the Super Committee and what it means for our priorities going forward. You can check it out here.

While relatively successful at keeping their internal discussions from leaking, it appears members of the Super Committee met an impasse when it came to taxes. The two sides just could not agree on a balanced plan that included both cuts and revenues.  So is it bad that the Super Committee couldn’t reach a deal? The Super Committee presented an opportunity for Congress to come together around a bipartisan, balanced, comprehensive deficit reduction package that put the country on solid fiscal ground, created jobs and grew the economy, and followed those values we ascribe to as a country -- like protecting people in need and struggling with hunger. The fact that they didn’t is a missed opportunity.

A final proposal that would have severely cut programs for poor and hungry people would not have helped anything or anyone.  In fact, such a plan would have caused more hardship in an already difficult economic climate. The Center on Budget analyzed some of those proposals. Read them here and here.

So, now what? Where do we go from here? Under the Budget Control Act, the absence of a deal means we will see automatic cuts for the next nine years. These cuts will total $1.2 trillion and begin in January 2013—over a year from now. The National Women’s Law Center wrote a piece explaining some of the myths and facts about what the lack of a deal means. There are some critical points to remember about the automatic cuts that have been triggered.

First, because of the great work by Bread for the World members and activists around the country, some really important programs for poor and hungry people are exempt from the automatic cuts—programs like SNAP (formerly food stamps), the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit, and Medicaid are just a few examples. That being said, other vital programs have no protections -- programs like WIC, food aid, and international poverty-focused development assistance. And these programs are already facing cuts because of the ten-year budget caps Congress enacted in August.

But there’s another way. Congress can reduce our deficits, promote job creation, strengthen the economy, and protect programs for hungry and poor people -- those currently exempted from cuts and those targeted for cuts. Congress can do this all by doing what the Super Committee was unable to do—pass a balanced, comprehensive deficit reduction plan that reduces our deficits while protecting that small portion of the budget that funds programs for poor and hungry people. Congress has adhered to this principle to protect poor and vulnerable populations in all the major deficit reduction laws over the past thirty years. It must do so again. It will take new revenues. It will take some tough spending choices. But whether to fund programs for poor and hungry people should not be a choice. Congress has a year. I hope they will step up to the plate.

Congress can take a first step right now by extending unemployment benefits before they expire at the end of the year. If Congress fails to extend federal unemployment insurance, 2 million people will lose benefits in January alone. This assistance helps those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own continue to put food on the table, provide for their families, and search for work. Cutting unemployment insurance is no way to address our deficits.

Amelia Kegan is senior policy analyst at Bread for the World.

Photo by Flickr user fox_kiyo

[Editors' note: This Advent season, we will be running a series of reflections on the Bread Blog from members of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC. The lectionary readings for this post are Isaiah 10:5-19; John 4:1-15; and Romans 4:1-8. Keep reading the Bread Blog for more Advent reflections each day.] 

I do not like hot weather. I mean, I really do not like hot weather. This is ironic since I have spent so much of my life living in tropical climates. First, I lived in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. While I was in college in Philadelphia, I visited my parents several times while they were living in the Middle East. Later, for work, I was constantly travelling to warm destinations year round. Then, my wife and I lived in Georgetown, Guyana, a city directly abutting a large rainforest. Now I live in Okinawa, Japan. I keep asking my wife if we can perhaps do an assignment somewhere other than a tropical clime, like Vladivostok or Ulan Bator, Mongolia. I do not think this is going to happen very soon.

Other than slowly learning to tolerate constant sweat, I have learned a lot about water while residing in consistently warm climates. First, it is critical to life; and second, you always ensure that you have an adequate supply before you travel anywhere. It is this idea of water that I want to highlight in today’s readings. John’s gospel tells us, “and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.” The two-hour period from noon to 2 p.m. is generally the hottest time of the day. It is no surprise that Jesus chose to rest from his travels at this time of day.

It is also no surprise that he chose to rest near a constant supply of water. Upon rereading the passage, I am struck by the exchange between Jesus and the Samarian woman. So here is Jesus, during the hottest part of a day, asking a person for water. Yet, he is in immediate proximity to a well. Wouldn’t this passage have greater strength if it occurred in a remote area far away from any water supply? In the middle of the desert or on a mountaintop would add a certain drama to the narrative. Yet, Jesus is at a well.

As water is crucial to life, it is an ideal metaphor for God’s salvation. But, Jesus offers the water of salvation next to an ample water supply. It makes me think of the most famous line from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: “Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.”

As we once again approach Christmas and the totality of the Holiday Season that now seems to start in mid-October and ends in mid-January, don’t we find ourselves in a world that has ample access to water, but is unable to drink it? Do we find ourselves so distracted by the briny noise and confusion in our everyday world that we cannot look to the manger in Bethlehem and the miracle of a small yet tumultuous supply of crisp and fresh water that is once again flowing? Drink up, it’s worth it.

Prayer: Dear Almighty God, may we always be cognizant of the glory of your salvation and that your love, mercy, and grace are always present throughout our lives and in our world.  Amen.

Matthew Weitz is a member of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. Visit their website at www.nyapc.org.

What would you do this Christmas if you had two little children to feed and all you had in your house was one banana? This was life for Heather Rude-Turner, a single mom working full-time. Even with her job, there just wasn’t enough to support her two kids, Naomi, 5, and Isaac, 3.

“I don’t eat a lot of times because I feel bad taking the food away from my kids. I have one banana in the house. If I cut it in half, they can each have half of the banana. I don’t need vitamins.”

Unfortunately, one in five families with children in America are struggling to put food on the table this Christmas season. They need your help.

Can you make a special Christmas gift today for hungry families? Your gift will enable Bread for the World to fight for programs that help parents feed their children.

The government programs that Bread advocated for over the years allowed Heather to get the help she needed so she could feed Naomi and Isaac. Heather recently completed her college degree, and in a few months she’ll be marrying her sweetheart, Mark.

But many families are experiencing a different story this Christmas. The economy has pushed more people into poverty. At the same time, all programs that are focused on helping hungry and poor people are under attack in Congress. If these programs are slashed, the cuts are going to cost lives. Children across America will be hungry.

Will you make a gift now to help us protect funding for programs that benefit hungry people?

We need your support to fight hunger. Please give a special Christmas gift today, and help families like Heather, Naomi, and Isaac.

David Beckmann is president of Bread for the World.

Screen grab from Rick Steves European Christmas

Every year, right after (or sometimes before) Thanksgiving, people dust off their old Christmas records, flip through their CD collections, or search their mp3 files for their favorite Christmas songs. I thought it would be fun to ask our staffers to submit their favorite Christmas songs to share with all of you. Here's what they submitted:

Grace Bae, Art Simon Fellow, Government Relations:

My favorite Christmas Carol is “O Holy Night.” I love the words and melody of this song. I especially love the verse: “Truly he taught us to love one another, his law is love and his gospel is peace. Chains he shall bread, for the slave is our brother. And in his name all oppression shall cease.” I was in Uganda for Christmas in 2009, and I remember singing this carol in our office one morning. Christmas in Uganda is difficult because there is no distinction of seasons and I was away from my loved ones. This verse so closely aligned with my line of work in Uganda, and it touches my heart because it shares the gospel message, which drives me to do what I do.

Jennifer Fraser, Organizing Coordinator: 

While living in La Coruña, Spain for my junior year of college, I joined my Spanish university’s choir and performed with them at Christmas time. My year in Spain was one of the happiest times of my life, and experiencing Christmas there was beautiful, holy, and magical. This song is one of the many Spanish Christmas carols I learned and sang while there. The sweet lyrics and happy “bell” sounds instantly bring me back to that wonderful time.

Scott Bleggi, Senior International Policy Analyst:

My first Foreign Service assignment was in Germany.  My kids were very small and everywhere we went we heard children’s choirs. Here is a favorite, “Es fuer uns eine Zeit ankegommen.”  It is a traditional German carol whose lyrics translate to, “A time comes for us, a time of great joy.” (The video below is from our friend, Rick Steves, and the carol begins towards the end of the video, at 3:29.)

Laura Elizabeth Pohl, Multimedia Manager, and Racine Tucker-Hamilton, Media Relations Manager:

Racine: My favorite Christmas song  is "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey. I love the way it starts out slow with just a few chimes and almost acapella, and builds in tempo and a powerful delivery. Similar to how the build-up for Christmas is for some.

Larry Hollar, North Central Senior Regional Organizer

For sheer vocal beauty and simplicity of message, for me, nothing compares to this 17th century French carol. Sometimes I imagine how amazed I would have been as a shepherd experiencing the great good news of Jesus’ birth. This carol evokes images that envelop me -- smell, light, wonder, song. How can we, as today’s shepherds, be open to sensing that deep joy in its fullness again?

Please share your own favorite carols in the comments below! And Merry Christmas from your friends at Bread for the World. God bless you!

Jeannie Choi is associate editor at Bread for the World.

Photo by Flickr user kavehfa

[Editors' note: This Advent season, we will be running a series of reflections on the Bread Blog from members of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC. The lectionary readings for this post are Isaiah 9:18-10:4; John 10:31-42; and Hebrews 10:19-25. Keep reading the Bread Blog for more Advent reflections each day.] 

The Isaiah passage is full of fire, fury, smoke, and scorched land. But it did not strike a meaningful cord until I read it a second time – three days after Sunday, October 31, when 58 worshipers at Our Lady of Salvation Church, the largest Catholic church in Baghdad, were gunned down by terrorists. Elder Yousif al-Saka emailed photos of the church in the aftermath of this horrific act: Everything in the church was scorched, sooty, broken, destroyed. You could feel the grief, disbelief, anguish, and desolation in those pictures. The cry of pain in the words and faces of the Christians in Baghdad was haunting.

Why do people persecute one another? Why does religion pit brother and sister against brother and sister? A recent book by Eliza Griswold, The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from Fault Line between Christianity and Islam, describes in horrific detail the chaos and murder that has characterized religious relationships in Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. No wonder “the land is scorched by the fury of the Lord of Hosts, and people have become fuel for the fire.”

But for all this, God’s “hand is stretched out still.” In John, we read that the Jews picked up stones to stone Jesus, not for his good deeds, they explained, but for blasphemy, calling himself the son of God. The anger created by perceived notions of what is wrong or right, the true way with religious tradition apparently is as old as the Scriptures. Two thousand years later, we still live with intolerance, a perceived righteousness, and stones to throw (actually, much worse) at those whom we believe do not follow the right religious path. So we find wrath among and between faiths, and we confront God’s wrath against the behavior of his people.

The question is, how do we get around this wrath, this violence? Isaiah and Hebrews tell us: forgiveness. If God can forgive his people with a hand that is “stretched out still,” then we must forgive one another as well. We must see the best in one another, accept differing views and beliefs. As Hebrews says, “We ought to see how each of us may best arouse others to love and active goodness … encouraging one another … .”

The violence and wrath in the world calls each of us to do our part by reaching out in love, by showing compassion and support, indeed by being our brothers and sisters’ keepers. Hebrews says, “… the blood of Jesus makes us free to enter boldly into the sanctuary by the new, living way…” In Jesus’ name and in his love, let us forgive and pray for peace and seek to end violence and wrath in our worldly midst.

Prayer: Dear God, you have extended your hand in forgiveness for our sins. Show us the way to extend our hands in love and forgiveness to our brothers and sisters everywhere. Amen.

Marilyn J. Seiber is a member at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC. Visit their website at www.nyapc.org.

Screenshot from "Educate the Future" by the Global Campaign for Education.

“To get to school, I had to walk barefoot three miles, uphill both ways.”

You might be used to hearing this joke, poking fun at our parents’ and grandparents’ views on how “kids today” have got it so easy, compared to what they had to endure in order to receive an education. But all over the world, there are millions of “kids today” who are actually living this reality every day.

Around the world, 69 million children don’t have easy access to education, if they have the opportunity to go to school at all, according to the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), an organization dedicated to promoting access to education as a human right. Nearly 250 million children have to work in order to help their families get by, and it’s hard enough to study for hours without having to worry about helping your family pay their day to day bills … especially when you’re a child.

The GCE is trying to change those figures, by organizing faith-based groups, NGOs, foundations, teachers unions, and other organizations to create a coalition to advocate for a greater emphasis on education as a priority in poverty-focused development assistance.

In a new video showcasing some of the group’s youngest activists, teenage students stand in front of the Capitol building, spelling out “Education for All” with a paper-chain of links decorated by other supporters of the initiative.

One girl emphatically states that she doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up, but that she thinks that’s the beauty of education — because it gives her the opportunity to choose from so many potential career paths. For many children around the world, the chance to simply have a career is more than they can ask for.

Hopefully someday, the parents worldwide who had to say, “I walked miles without shoes to get to school,” will have children who will  someday joke about it as well—because everyone will have easy access to quality education, and “those days” will just be a memory.  

To learn more about the Global Campaign for Education, watch the video below or check out their website at campaignforeducation.org

Emily Warne is a communications intern at Bread for the World.

[Editors' note: This Advent season, we will be running a series of reflections on the Bread Blog from members of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC. The lectionary readings for this post are Isaiah 9:8-17; Tuesday; Matthew 18:1-6; and 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, 13-17. Keep reading the Bread Blog for more Advent reflections each day.] 

I reflect on today’s verses after Skyping with my sister and her 2-year-old son, Nathaniel, who live in Australia. The connection isn’t great: The picture is blurry, like I’m seeing my nephew’s face from a distance without my glasses, the edges all fuzzy. Even through this imperfect medium, the pleasure I feel when I see him is visceral. I feel delight, when he calls me by name, Aunty Nicki. I feel happiness, to see him wear the gift I sent him, a cowboy vest from Wyoming. I feel such pleasure to see that he looks so much like my sister, until he smiles, when he is suddenly the image of his father; and yet to know that he is entirely himself, a wholly unique little person.

As I read the verses, Nathaniel fills my head. Perhaps for this reason, the verses from Matthew resonate with me most in this moment, because they are so focused on children. These very familiar verses seem to give two distinct lessons, united by their context; first, that a person must humble themselves and become like a child to enter the Kingdom of God; and second, a dire warning against causing a child (or, by implication, anyone) to lose their faith. My reflections here are focused on the first question.

God’s great love for those who are least in the eyes of the world is one of the defining themes of the gospel. Obviously, and without question, we are called to humility. I wonder, though, what it means to humble oneself and become like a child? I’m no biblical scholar or historian, but my understanding is that the children of the Bible were deemed as chattel, the property of their parents. A rudimentary knowledge of the Proverbs suggests they were subject to the strictest discipline and obedience. They were also considered a great blessing from God, the hope and future of their families and communities. In a nutshell, it seems to me that they were both powerless and of enormous value.

Perhaps there is a lesson here. Perhaps God calls us, first, to own and acknowledge our weakness. Children are absolutely dependent, in ways that adults usually are not. In simplest terms, young children die if the adults in their life don’t provide food and clothing and shelter. And so, lacking the capacity to care for themselves, they give themselves up into their mothers’ arms. Perhaps this, then, is what it is about—recognizing that we cannot save ourselves. Though, for the most part we can feed and clothe ourselves and make choices for our lives, we are ultimately vulnerable. Life and death are out of our hands. And so, like children, we offer ourselves up into God’s arms.   

The Taize Community points out that, shortly before the exchange related in these verses, Jesus tells the disciples “The Son of Man is about to be handed over to those who will kill him,” (verses 22 and 23). It is little wonder that Jesus identifies with the child. Understanding that humans often crush the vulnerable, Jesus is approaching the moment of his greatest vulnerability. Thus, even God, the Lord of the Universe, models to us this humility he requires. He did it when he was born a baby to a poor, unwed mother. He did it again on the cross.

To cast us in the role of children, also speaks of the Lord’s relationship to us. Unless given reason not to, a child trusts its mother implicitly. A child trusts without thinking, without questioning. A child knows where comfort lies, where there is safety, where there is sustenance. It’s that simple.  

In this equation the mother, ostensibly, is the one with all the power. However, she is also vulnerable to her child, in a relationship of mutual dependence and mutual delight. Her own health and happiness are inexorably linked to her child’s, who is capable of bringing the greatest possible grief to her life—by death, yes, but also by rejection. When we long for God, when we look for God, does God feel the joy of a mother when her baby reaches out for her, milk drunk and rapturous? I believe God does. It is wondrous that the God of the Universe, the Almighty One, assumes this role of vulnerability, through God’s love for us.   

Nicki Gill is a member at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. Visit their website at www.nyapc.org.

Works cited:  Taize Community. “Children: What does it Mean to Welcome God’s Kingdom Like a Child?” Taize. 13 Mar. 2006. Web. 5 Nov. 2010.

"If you desire peace, cultivate justice, but at the same time, cultivate the fields to produce more bread; otherwise there will be no peace."

-Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Photo by Flickr user  Slideshow Bruce

[Editors' note: This Advent season, we will be running a series of reflections on the Bread Blog from members of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC. The lectionary readings for this post are Isaiah 9:1-7; Hebrews 12:18-29; and Matthew 21:23-32. Keep reading the Bread Blog for more Advent reflections each day.] 

Three very different scenarios for this day. The passage from Isaiah originally served as an oracle for the coronation of a Judean king, possibly Hezekiah, and is describing events in a land eventually divided into three provinces by Assyrian kings on their way to the Mediterranean. The language includes an announcement of a divine birth that probably came from an Egyptian coronation ritual, but from our perspective can be read as the forecast of the birth of Jesus: "For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God. Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

In the Letter to the Hebrews, by an unknown author, the text urges the faithful to follow Christ’s example and live as he did. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for indeed our God is a consuming fire. Not exactly a typical Sunday service.

Finally, in the passage from Matthews, following his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus is asked by the chief priests in the Temple by what authority did he act and who gave him the authority, and responds by asking them whether John’s ministry was divine or merely human in its origin, to which the priests replied that they did not know, since the first answer would suggest they believed that Jesus was the Messiah and the second would anger those who believed in John being a messenger of God. Since the priests did not answer the question posed by Jesus on authority, Jesus said neither would he answer their question.

Prayer: Creator God, keep us mindful of the perseverance and messages of those who preceded us in our faith history.

Robert L. Doan is a member at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. Visit their website at www.nyapc.org.

President Obama addressed the United Nations today at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, focusing most of his speech on his administration's efforts to improve foreign relations in light of global changes from the past decade, such as globalization and the Arab Spring. In his speech, the president specifically noted the Millenium Development Goals as a top priority and commitment for the White House:

We have fully embraced the Millennium Development Goals. And we address our priorities here, in this institution -- for instance, through the Security Council meeting that I will chair tomorrow on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, and through the issues that I will discuss today.

But this was only the beginning, the president said. He continued to insist that progress would only happen if every member of the global community participated in fighting hunger, injustice, and poverty:

Some of our actions have yielded progress. Some have laid the groundwork for progress in the future. But make no mistake: This cannot solely be America's endeavor. Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone. We have sought -- in word and deed -- a new era of engagement with the world. And now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.

It is clear to us at Bread that the U.S. government must continue its comprehensive review of our nation's global development policy. This statement by President Obama is a great first step. As the United States continues to lead the way in providing aid and development to struggling people, other nations will be similarly inspired to "take their share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

One of our own, Faustine Wabwire, foreign affairs policy analyst at Bread for the World Institute, appeared on Voice of America in Focus to talk about the famine in the Horn of Africa, and how Bread for the World constituents can impact this crisis. In particular, Wabwire explains the importance of the General Assembly of the United Nations, which is happening in New York City from Tuesday, September 13 to Thursday, September 22:

We are hoping that the meeting of the UN Generally Assembly in New York this week can create more attention that we focus on protecting poverty-focused development assistance because these few dollars have been proven to make an impact in the lives of vulnerable people around the world.

We are participating in some of the policy meetings in the UN General Assembly. We are focusing very specifically on maternal and child nutrition. As we know, Somalia has one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world, so it’s very important for us to protect these programs that can [enable] us to address malnutrition, because we know malnutrition causes lifelong negative developmental consequences.

Watch the video of Faustine Wabwire above and share your own thoughts in the comments section below.

Today, on the  Kojo Nnamdi Show, the topic of conversation was the future of foreign aid, and the guests included Jim Kolbe, Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network co-chair, and Paul O’Brien, Vice President for Policy and Campaigns at Oxfam America. This was a very timely discussion considering the current political climate over the budget; furthermore, this week marks one year since President Obama issued the first ever Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development (PPD). The directive elevated development to one of the key pillars of foreign policy, along with defense and diplomacy, and put a strong emphasis on reforming how we do aid and development.

So how are things looking one year later, and where are we headed? Those were the questions Kolbe and O'Brien discussed on the Kojo Nnamdi Show. Both believed that the PPD, as well as the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, were major policy frameworks that ensured that the foreign affairs budget is spent wisely and that American tax dollars are used most effectively to serve our interests in an increasingly interconnected world. In the year since these documents were released, Kolbe and O’Brien said that we have seen progress. O’Brien noted that the Partnership for Growth initiative is seeing major success; for example, Ghana’s growth rate, one of the PFG countries, is currently at 18 percent. O’Brien and Kolbe also referenced better cross-agency coordination since the release of the PPD and increased transparency from the State Department and USAID with the launch of the Foreign Assistance Dashboard--an easy-to-understand website that allows visitors to track U.S. government foreign assistance investments.

That said, both Kolbe and O’Brien emphasized that a rewrite of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA) was a crucial part of reform. O’Brien agreed with Kojo in that the piece of legislation is now widely regarded as an obstacle and needs to be brought into the 21 century. Kolbe pointed out that the world has changed drastically since the FAA was written, and it is not useful for us to just keep tacking things onto it rather than fixing the law as a whole. Earlier this month, Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) released his Global Partnerships Act as a working draft of an FAA rewrite. O’Brien and Kolbe were hopeful that Congress would start work on it, though neither saw much possibility for passage in this Congress.

+Listen to the full interview here.

Mary Deering is outreach associate for the Modernizing Foreign Aid Network.

What was your most recent meal? Mine was a turkey reuben sandwich on rye and a glass of water. Now think about your meal and consider it against the “healthy eating plate” created by nutrition experts at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). I didn’t do so well with my lunch, but after having seen this diagram, I’m going to shoot for a healthier, more balanced plate—which is exactly what the HSPH is hoping for by releasing this diagram.

Presented as a counterpoint to the USDA’s similar chart, “My Plate,” the HSPH claims that its healthy eating plate is a better blueprint for eating a balanced diet, free of “the influence of powerful agricultural interests, which is not the recipe for healthy eating,” says Walter Willet, professor of epidemiology and nutrition and chair of the department of nutrition at HSPH. While the USDA plate includes starchy vegetables such as potatoes, doesn’t differentiate between whole grains and plain grains, and encourages drinking dairy at every meal, the HSPH plate specifies eating whole grains, includes healthy oils as a meal staple, and encourages drinking water at every meal. The HSPH also explains the importance of avoiding starchy vegetables, sugary juices, and red meat in their additional content.

Just as it is important to ask people to reconsider what they eat, we should also be asking people to think about how they get the food they eat. Is healthy, nutritional food available to members of all socio-economic backgrounds in our nation? No. Should healthy eating only be available to the wealthy members of our society? No. But we continue to see reports of increased food insecurity in our nation and abroad, and cheap food generally means fatty, unhealthy food for the majority of America’s poor.

It’s important to stay educated on health and nutrition for ourselves and our families, but also to stay educated on the state of domestic and global food security, and to fight to make everyone’s plate a healthy one.

Image: The Harvard School of Public Health released this diagram of a "healthy eating plate" to guide people in nutritional eating.

If you’re looking for some good food-related reading, pick up the current issue of The Nation on newsstands now. Author Frances Moore Lappé opens the issue with an update on her perspectives of hunger and food since 1971, when she wrote Diet for a Small Planet. Her insights are not surprising to those who have followed hunger and food insecurity over the past 30 years:

The number of hungry people has soared to nearly 1 billion, despite strong global harvests. And for even more people, sustenance has become a health hazard—with the US diet implicated in four out of our top ten deadly diseases. Power over soil, seeds and food sales is ever more tightly held, and farmland in the global South is being snatched away from indigenous people by speculators set to profit on climbing food prices. Just four companies control at least three-quarters of international grain trade; and in the United States, by 2000, just ten corporations—with boards totaling only 138 people—had come to account for half of US food and beverage sales. Conditions for American farmworkers remain so horrific that seven Florida growers have been convicted of slavery involving more than 1,000 workers. Life expectancy of US farmworkers is forty-nine years.

That’s one current. It’s antidemocratic and deadly.

There is, however, another current, which is democratizing power and aligning farming with nature’s genius. Many call it simply “the global food movement.” In the United States it’s building on the courage of truth tellers from Upton Sinclair to Rachel Carson, and worldwide it has been gaining energy and breadth for at least four decades.

I, for one, am never satisfied with just one voice on a topic, so I appreciate the diverse symposium of authors The Nation has gathered for this issue: Raj Patel, Bridget Huber, Vandan Shiva, Michael Pollan, and more. Check it out online here. (Warning: They ask for an email sign up.)

Cover illustration by Tim Robinson, design by Milton Glaser Incorporated.

It was the best kind of homecoming: My former roommate who moved to Nairobi, Kenya, last year was visiting DC for a week, and she saved one evening for a long dinner with me. We caught up on all the details—life, relationships, and future plans. And then, once the plates were cleared and the laughs had ceased, I asked about work. As a regional coordinator for aid in east Africa, she has twice visited Dadaab—the largest refugee camp in Kenya. Leaning in, I asked, “What is it like?”

What she described was not very different from what I’d seen or read in the news, and yet, to hear it from a friend who had seen it with her own eyes was a sobering experience.

It’s difficult to fathom widespread famine. In fact, “compassion fatigue” is a commonly used phrase in nonprofit organizations—we are sensitive to the fact that constituents tire of the constant tug of need around the world. (Unfortunately, national leaders feel the same way.) But listening to my friend’s stories about refugees just barely making it to the camp only to wait for hours in long registration lines, and women risking attack from thugs in the desert to collect firewood for their families, solidified the news for me: This is really happening.

I hope you will join me in making a concerted effort to read these stories; to educate yourself on the complex causes of the famine; to look at the photos and see everyone as a person of dignity; to ask our members of Congress to take action on the Horn of Africa now; to protect global food security programs during the budget negotiations; and, most importantly, to pray for compassion and swift action for our brothers and sisters in the Horn of Africa.

A lab technician interning at St. Francis Helathcare Services in Jinja, Uganda, tests for diseases. Former President Bush's global health plans would provide medical care for women and children in developing countries. (Photo by Laura Elizabeth Pohl)

You can’t live in Washington, DC, and not be interested in politics. I hear people talking politics everywhere I go: on the bus, at a restaurant, in the grocery line. In fact, I once sat through nine innings of a Nationals baseball game listening to two gentlemen behind me in heated discussion over the Republican National Convention. You just can’t escape it.

The conversation du jour? The Republican presidential race, of course. Everyone is talking about who said what at this debate and that interview; who has a chance to beat Obama; who has no chance at all, etc. etc. After a while, it just becomes another form of celebrity gossip, except in this situation, we’re not just voting who wore it best, we’re voting on the best person to hold the world's most powerful office. The gravity of the situation juxtaposed with the superficiality of much of the conversation – among people and in the media – can be infuriating.

I wish, instead, people would focus on news like this: On September 12, former President George W.  Bush urged Congress and the private sector to continue U.S. leadership against AIDS, malaria, and other health issues in poor countries. In this new initiative, President Bush is asking Congress to place a circle of protection around poor and vulnerable women abroad by using the infrastructure of doctors, nurses, and clinics that he created during his presidency for the purpose of combatting AIDS, to now screen and treat women for cervical and breast cancer. Politics aside, many people in both parties have lauded President Bush for his efforts to fight global health issues during his presidency and beyond.

It’s not scintillating news: It doesn’t reveal a politician’s character flaws, or hidden skeletons, or anything of that sort. It doesn’t even pit the two parties against one another (President Bush and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are working together in this effort). There is nothing vaguely controversial in this story. But to me, this is something to talk about. So share it with your friends and let’s change the national conversation.

Read more about the effort here.

Fresh vegetables are for sale at David Mann's farmers market in Fort Blackmore, VA. (Photo by Laura Elizabeth Pohl)

For as much as we talk about food-related issues on the Bread Blog, it’s surprising how little we actually talk about eating. It might please you to know that we have a good number of foodies on our staff—folks who celebrate the joy of cooking and eating as much as they advocate for a just world.

I was delighted to read an interview between Rachel Stone, a Christian food blogger, and Norman Wirzba, a research professor at Duke Divinity School. Their thoughtful conversation gets into how Christians should think about the food industry and eating, as well as the importance of having a theology of food and body. This excerpt, in particular, caught my attention:

How would you advise people who want to eat in a way that glorifies God but cannot afford healthier options, such as free-range meat?

Industrial food has been especially destructive for poor people; it makes lots of unhealthy calories available cheaply. Good eating should not be elitist. I recommend that people try to grow some of their own food. You don’t need lots of land and it’s not very expensive to do, though it takes time. I also recommend that people join community gardens and that churches start to grow food on their grounds. Some interesting studies are now being done showing that the total costs associated with healthy food are actually less than the supposedly cheap food we buy. Good food does often (but not always) cost more up front, but it is more nutritious and satisfying. It also results in fewer (often very expensive) trips to the doctor.

Indeed, with increased food insecurity and the highest recorded poverty rates in the nation since 1959, how people eat and what they eat are important issues that we should all be tracking as people of faith. Read the full interview between Rachel Stone and Norman Wirzba on Her.meneutics.

When we think of deforestation, we often think of bald mountaintops and animals' lost habitats. But deforestation threatens more than the environment: It imperils peoples' health, food security, and livelihoods. Experts recently said the destruction of forests in Kenya and the Horn of Africa contributed to the famine in the region, because without trees, soil erodes, crops wash away, and people aren't able to feed themselves. Also, when people chop down trees and burn them as fuel, they can inadvertently create health problems for people breathing in the smoke.

In Nepal, one community is abandoning wood as an energy source in favor of briquettes made from wild grass. The briquettes -- which look like small, black beehives -- are inexpensive and smoke-free. Watch the video above to see how this alternative energy source is changing a small Nepali village.

This story is part of our Wednesday ViewChange video series.

Today, the U.S. Census Bureau released poverty numbers that paint a dire portrait of a nation that has been hit hard by a bad economy. Folks are using every last resort to survive: scrambling for low-paying jobs, doubling up households, moving in with parents, and foregoing health insurance after losing their jobs.

The report states that in 2010, the poverty rate increased to 15.1 percent, up from 14.3 percent in 2009, with 46.2 million people living in poverty—nearly one out of every six Americans. That’s the highest rate since the Census began tracking poverty data in 1959.

Also noted in the study:

• Since 2007, the number of men working full time, year-round with earnings decreased by 6.6 million, and the number of corresponding women declined by 2.8 million.
• The poverty rate increased for children younger than 18 from 20.7 percent in 2009 to 22 percent in 2010.
• The number of people in poverty ages 18 to 64 also increased from 24.7 million in 2009 to 26.3 million in 2010.
• By spring 2011, the number of doubled-up households increased by 2 million to 21.8 million.
• 5.9 million young adults age 25-34 lived with their parents. Before the recession, that number was 4.7 million.

I wanted to see how my town of Washington, DC, was faring, so I called up Mark Anderson, co-director of We Are Family, a grocery delivery service in Northwest DC. We Are Family focuses on serving the elderly, but Mark has been receiving calls lately from people outside of his target demographic. “You’re starting to see more folks who are younger who are being forced to take advantage of services they historically have not had to utilize,” Anderson says. “I got a call from someone who is going to university, and they needed groceries, and another person who was younger than 40 years old, who had been employed, but lost his job. The shame of asking for help was palpable in the person’s voice.”

Nonprofit direct-service organizations like We Are Family are doing their best, but they are also struggling financially, as foundations are no longer able to provide as much funding. The poverty rate, therefore, could be worse were it not for federally funded safety net programs such as WIC and SNAP (formerly food stamps).

Interestingly enough, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction—or “Super Committee”—had its second meeting today. If you remember, this is the bipartisan group of 12 members of Congress who are charged with identifying $1.5 trillion in federal deficit reductions. Everything is on the table for the Super Committee to dissect and eliminate, including the very programs that help keep people out of poverty.

It’s time for us – you, me, and everyone we know—to make it clear to Congress that poverty-focused federal assistance cannot be cut when poverty rates have climbed for the third year in a row. These programs are not wasteful spending—they are keeping real, industrious Americans and their kids off the streets and on a pathway to self-sufficiency.

We can’t let them fall through the cracks at a time like this.

+Take Action: Ask Congress to form a circle of protection around funding for programs for poor and hungry people in the U.S. and abroad.