Enough for Everyone

Friday webinar: Colombia Free Trade Agreement

The U.S. Congress is currently considering Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Korea, Colombia and Panama. PC(USA) mission partners in Colombia are calling for the PC(USA) to raise its voice. The Presbyterian Hunger Program will host a webinar about the Colombia FTA this Friday, May 27. Register for the webinar to discuss:
                
• Ways for you to take action on behalf of our sisters and brothers in Colombia;
• How Colombia’s human rights record requires delaying this agreement;
• Why the Presbyterian Church of Colombia opposes the agreement in its present form;
• Why the cost of this agreement is too high for small farmers and others;
• How we as people of faith evaluate trade agreements.

Panelists include Lisa Haugaard, executive director of the Latin America Working Group; the Rev. Shannan Vance-Ocampo, director of Colombia Programs for the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, which coordinates the Presbyterian Accompaniment Program on behalf of PC(USA) World Mission; and the Rev. Dr. Alexa Smith, Presbyterian Hunger Program.

Learn more about Presbyterian mission work in Colombia.

System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

Palm Sunday fronds worthy of celebration

This year over 800 PC(USA) congregations ordered Eco-Palms for Palm Sunday worship services. This 10% increase in orders over last year means that together Presbyterians purchased over 150,000 Eco-Palm fronds. Eco-Palms are harvested sustainably and provide economic development opportunities for harvesting communities in Guatemala and Mexico.

If your congregation ordered, check the PC(USA) Eco-Palms website for info on when to expect your shipment, how to care for palms when they arrive, download a bulletin insert and 3-minute educational video, and more.

If your congregation didn't order, consider Eco-Palms for next year. Orders for 2012 will be open after the first of the year, so make a note to return to the website in January to place your order for Palm Sunday 2012 in advance. 

To educate your congregation about Eco-Palms, check out our Materials page and read Talking Theology with Jesus in Mexico, a blog post by Kattie Somerfield at Lutheran World Relief.

Photo of Jesus Delacruz Arellano by Kattie Somerfield.

Fair Trade Delegation to Nicaragua!

January 8-15, 2011

The Presbyterian Hunger Program is leading a delegation to Nicaragua, and you are invited!

Participants will experience the benefits of Fair Trade first-hand when they visit coffee and sewing cooperatives. The delegation is perfect for anyone involved in a congregation, college or camp that uses Fair Trade coffee, tea, chocolate or t-shirts. It’s also great for anyone who has hosted a holiday bazaar with Fair Trade products, or simply wants to learn more.

Delegates will:
•  Meet Fair Trade farmers and artisans
•  Pick coffee and stay in homes of farming families
•  Meet the women who sew Sweat-Free Ts
•  Build community with fellow Presbyterians
•  Learn about Nicaragua, Fair Trade and more!

Jacobo Cisneros, a Fair Trade farmer and leader in the Tierra Nueva cooperative, and Margaret LeMaster, a participant in the 2008 delegation, become friends while picking coffee together.

The delegation is sponsored by the Presbyterian Hunger Program, Equal Exchange and CEPAD (the Council of Protestant Churches in Nicaragua).

Applications are due November 22.

Download the Application.

For more information call (502) 569-5819.

Cost: $575 plus airfare. $575 is all-inclusive of meals, lodging, translation, in-country transportation, etc. The only extra needed is a small amount of spending money for snacks or souvenirs. Some need-based scholarship assistance is available.

Please consider joining us, and pass the word to others who may be interested.

Halloween Chocolate: Treat or Trick?

Do you and your family participate in Halloween? Do you do traditional activities like dressing up in costume, trick-or-treating or giving out candy? Or do you do other creative things?

When my brother and I were kids, there was a big candy scare about whether our Halloween loot contained razor blades or poison. I remember my parents going through our stash with us at the end of the night to make sure nothing had been tampered with and throwing out suspicious-looking items.

These days there are other reasons to be suspicious. In addition to rising rates of obesity, diabetes and other health problems related to over-eating and high sugar consumption, on the production end, child labor has been well documented on cocoa farms.

How do we know whether our chocolate purchases support labor abuses in the cocoa industry? One way is to use Fair Trade chocolate such as Divine, Equal Exchange and others. In addition, this handy guide from Green America rates various chocolate companies according to child labor issues and explains the labels we see on products in the United States.

I've always preferred treats over tricks. Chocolate made with child labor is not a treat to me - it's a trick. Using Fair Trade ensures that treats really are treats - not only for God's children in the US but for God's children in cocoa-producing countries around the world.

Join the upcoming Delegation to Haiti

Apply by October 25

The Presbyterian Hunger Program recommends the following November 10-19 delegation for Presbyterians interested in Haiti and in recovering its agricultural sector. Two of the host organizations, Agricultural Missions and FONDAMA (Haitian Hand to Hand Foundation), are partners of PHP, and the outcomes of this trip will help shape a new and growing US network of Presbyterians advocating for and helping Haiti.

The goals of this Agricultural Missions delegation are to:

-  visit rural organizations and communities

-  assess the context, challenges and opportunities that face rural Haitians in consultation with Haitian leaders

-  build relationships of mutual respect, and

-  upon return to the U.S., advocate on behalf of rural Haitians and the member organizations of FONDAMA.

Cost: $350-500, plus airfare (typically $600-$700)

Leaders: Former PHP staff Lionel Derenoncourt (a native of Haiti) and Stephen Bartlett of Agricultural Missions.

To Apply: Email sbartlett@ag-missions.org for an application

Questions: Contact Stephen Bartlett or Alexa Smith

...Until All Are Fed

Support this innovative Presbyterian music project

Presbyterian pastor, hunger action leader and musician Rev. Bryan Field McFarland is joining with others and dreaming big dreams. They seek to record a hope-filled album, ...Until All Are Fed, to benefit the Presbyterian Hunger Program! 

They’re funding it in an innovative way – though pledges from ordinary folks like you and me, on a website called Pledge Music. It's the beauty of joining our voices and working together: $10, $15, $20 or whatever you can afford goes an even longer way when combined with hundreds of others.

For a minimum $10 pledge you'll not only be part of this special project, you'll recieve the album download once it's recorded. The music can be used in congregations, retreats, youth group and other gatherings. In fact, the flow of the album will follow the order of Presbyterian worship - gathering, proclaiming, responding and sending.

For more than $10, there are many pledge levels available:

-  get a signed CD or promo Sweat-Free T-shirt (or both)

-  support the project's use of greener packaging

-  get Skyped into a recording session (or go to the studio!)

-  and more.

Bryan and friends practice what they preach - they pledge too! They're tithing 10% of pledges and 20% of the album's proceeds to support the work of the Presbyterian Hunger Program.

I made my pledge today. Consider joining me and pledge now.

Celebrate World Fair Trade Day through prayer, contests and more!

This year's theme for World Fair Trade Day, May 8, is Fair Trade Your Home. The celebration lasts longer than just one day; it goes on several weeks! 

A number of congregations will be lifting up the benefits of Fair Trade through prayer, worship, Sunday school classes, product sales and more. If your congregation has not already planned a way to celebrate, prayer is a perfect way to lift up the lives of millions of farmers and artisans all over the world. Consider using or adapting this prayer at church and at home:

Holy God, you create the world and call it good. On this World Fair Trade Day we turn our hearts to the millions of people around the world who make their living as creators - weavers and wood carvers, painters and potters, farmers and factory workers, harvesters and handcrafters. Inspire us to create a Fair Trade world, so that none go hungry or lack opportunity to develop their full potential. Forgive us the ways we consume thoughtlessly and forget you as Creator of All. 

Grant us the will each day to choose wisely the products we consume, keeping your precious people and planet in mind with each decision we make. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

Learn about World Fair Trade Day

Participate in a Fair Trade Your Home contest (win Fair Trade prizes in categories such as Most Fair Trade Product Types at Home; Funniest Use of Fair Trade goods at Home; Most Beautiful Fair Trade Meal and more) 

Find an event near you

Download a toolkit of activities, product specials, educational materials and more.

Lenten Living suggestion #10

Giving Something to Someone for Lent

As we journey the Lenten path at New Creation Presbyterian Church in O'Fallon IL, we are indeed bringing depth and meaning to this most sacred season.  Instead of the traditional "giving something up for Lent," we are "giving something to someone for Lent."  This year we are sponsoring Fontabella maternity home.  It is a home for unwed mothers that has recently opened in our town. 

Each Sunday during Lent our entire congregation brings baby items to donate.  For instance, this week's specified items are diapers and/or diaper ointment.  At the end of the Lenten season, the children of our congregation will put all the items together in bags.  We are then going to take the kids to deliver these bags to Fontabella.  Along with these items, we will be offering them information about our church.  We pray to not only help support them financially with baby needs, but to also give them spiritual support and help them grow in their faith as they bring another child of God into this world.

-  Jeanna in O'Fallon, IL

Lenten Living suggestion #9

"One of my neighbors is doing this and I think it is a good idea:

-  She lets herself wait before eating until she feels hungry

-  The hunger reminds her of others who don't have the luxury of eating whatever and whenever and however much we want to every day

-  When she feels the hunger, she puts a dollar in a jar

-  At the end of Lent, the money she collects in the jar will be donated to one of the mission programs at her church that helps feed hungry people

This is an easy practice that anyone can do.  It requires some self discipline to change habits and resist temptations, which is what Lent means to me.  (More than just giving something up, it’s learning something new through self-discipline.)"

-  Nora in Green Brook, NJ

Lenten Living suggestion #7

Making Space for Haiti

 

Through the Lenten initiative "Observing a Holy Lent Makes Space for Haiti," the people of First Presbyterian Church in Arlington VA are encouraged to undertake a sacrificial meal or eating practice.  Commitments are posted on a bulletin board inviting conversation and support.  Examples include: eating beans and rice for one meal, forgoing meat, giving up bread, eating mindfully, and dining at home. 

 

The congregation is in its second Lenten season of focusing its intention on the people of Haiti. The hunger we experience connects us to those who are truly hungry and reminds us to hunger for the justice of Jesus Christ.  Through this Lenten practice, money saved through disciplined eating can be directed toward Presbyterian Disaster Assistance outreach in Haiti following January's earthquake. 

 

At the beginning of worship each Sunday, everyone who followed through with a Lenten discipline moves a scoop of rice from a huge bag to a pot, located on the chancel.  Some of the rice will be cooked for the church's Palm Sunday Lunch, and the remainder will be donated to the local shelter.

 

-  The Rev. Charlotte H. Lohrenz, Interim Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Arlington VA