CARE Testifies before Congress about Horn of Africa

Wouter Schaap, CARE's International Somalia Assistant Country Director, spoke to the Senate African Affairs Subcommittee in early August about the dire situation in the Horn of Africa. This video is about 16 minutes.    Find out how you can help 

Breathe Deeply, Strengthen Your Muscles...for The Horn of Africa

Pilates and yoga are wonderful practices for self-improvement.  We strengthen our muscles, gain flexibility and oxygenate our blood.  All wonderful!

But what if we could use these practices to help more than just ourselves?  Just think about yoga and pilates in the same way as the Run for the Cure or Walk for the Hungry. 

Nancy Bauer, executive director of the Mango Tree Foundation (MTF), has decided to use a daily practice of yoga and pilates to increase awareness about the famine in the Horn of Africa and raise funds for the refugees in that area of East Africa who are suffering because of the crisis.  (Remember a few weeks back I posted in this blog about the various ways in which we could help with the crisis?  Yoga and pilates were not part of that list). 

Nancy has pledged to practice yoga and pilates for 30 days beginning this Thursday, Sept. 1. She is asking you to donate at least $30 to support her efforts. Click here to access her donation page on the MTF web site.  All the proceeds will be donated to CARE and the World Food Programme.

"I hope through my practices to honor the women, children and men who have lost their lives and who are struggling to survive now," said Nancy, a resident of Roswell, Ga. "My daily journey will be much easier than theirs. But, I live in a society where people die from obesity and obesity related issues - we die from too much. They die from not enough..."

A couple of studios in the Atlanta area, Plum Tree Yoga and Pilates Tutor have agreed to work with Nancy on this effort.  Plum Tree Yoga will be hosting a special event related to the effort, and another is in the works at Pilates Tutor.  "I'm also talking with Lululemon and Peachtree Yoga! Plus, friends around the country have reach out to their yogi friends and studios to ask for their support."

And Nancy will be joined by her friend BeAnne Creeger, who is helping her coordinate the event at Plum Tree Yoga.

She wants the effort to go beyond the Atlanta area. "Reach out to your friends, your gurus and fitness friends," said Nancy. "Ask them to support our efforts. Check the Mango Tree Foundation website blog for more information."

Congratulations to Graham Golden

At National Gathering with Terrance Ruth (Orlando, FL)

With Angela Ruprock-Schafer (Plymouth, IN)

Graham Golden, a Norbertine Seminarian from Albuquerque, and I were the only two New Mexicans at the National Gathering this past June. I discovered that Graham has a great skill: networking.  That helped him make a lot of friends during the gathering and served us well during our visits to congressional offices on Lobby Day. While I wore a coat and tie, Graham wore his white habit on our visits to the offices of Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, and  Reps. Martin Heinrich, Steve Pearce and Ben Ray Lujan.  (Okay, it wasn't just two of us on the visit to Rep. Pearce.  We invited Angela Ruprock-Schafer from Indiana, whom we encountered somewhere between Cannon and Rayburn buildings, to join us on that visit).

On at least one occasion , a congressional staffer addressed Graham as "Father."  The habit, in fact, provided Graham the opportunity to speak with authority about how creating a Circle of Protection for the poor was not just a political decision, but a moral one.

Vows Ceremony

So on Sunday, August 28, on the Feast of St. Augustine, Graham Golden,  O. Praem, made his Simple vows at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic church as a member of the Norbertine Community of Santa Maria de la Vid.  Also making the vows were Jaime Bernardo Ávila Borunda, O. Praem.and Stephen Andrew Gaertner, O. Praem. 

Graham will go on to theolgical studies in Chicago, but his intention is to come back to Albuquerque eventually, where he is scheduled to make solemn vows in three years, also on the Feast of St. Augustine.  Norbertine life is guided by the Order of St. Augustine.

We are ccertain Graham  will continue to make Bread for the World a part of his mission when he returns to our community.  After all, he will have a strong support system.  The Community of Santa Maria de la Vid and Holy Rosary Parish in Albuquerue have been among our strongest advocates in Albuquerque. 

Cape Town Area Schools Seek to Improve Food Security with Sustainable Gardening

We often hear about efforts in the United States to reduce food insecurity by improving nutrition.  This is often done by promoting and supporting community gardens.

But this effort is not limited to the U.S.  The Christian Science Monitor recently published a great story about a program in the Cape Flat schools in Cape Town, South Africa, to promote sustainable gardens.

Here is an excerpt

South African non-profit organization School’s Environmental Education and Development (SEED) has established its Organic Classroom Programme in 21 Cape Flat schools. The project aims to improve food security in the Cape Flats by engaging students in environmental sustainability and teaching them how to practice permaculture – a holistic agriculture system that mimics relationships found in nature. SEED’s Organic Classroom Programme is a winner of the 2010 Sustainability Awards presented by Impumelelo – an independent awards program for social innovations in South Africa. 

Read more in article entitled Food Gardens at Cape Town area schools grow food and teach farming skills

Moving Beyond Polite Acquaintance

I had the privilege of attending a great discussion hosted by the New Mexico Conference of Churches about cooperation among churches, denominations and social service/advocacy groups in New Mexico. NMCC director Rev. Donna McNiel wrote about the gathering in her Ecumania blog. 

Here are a couple of excerpts (actually the first and last paragraph) in Donna's piece entitled  What’s your dream for the Church?

Last Friday, NMCC’s Board of Directors invited community members to join them for lunch at their quarterly meeting. The topic was ecumenical support of congregational life. Clergy and lay leaders from Presbyterian, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Lutheran, Roman Catholic, and United Methodist congregations joined us as well as staff and volunteers from Catholic Charities, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Interfaith Power and Light, Bread for the World, Called Back to the Well, Water in the Desert, Church Women United, and the Ecumenical Institute for Ministry. It was a fun and lively congregation about how we can work together to become the Church of the 21st century.

We wondered what our churches and communities could be like if we dared to go beyond polite acquaintance. We can’t work together very well if we don’t know each other and we can’t embody Jesus’ dream for the whole Church if we don’t care for one another. So, we proposed a one day event that would invite people in neighboring congregations to come together in prayer and fellowship as they walked from congregation to congregation. A kind of Progressive Prayer Walk (like a Progressive Dinner!) Watch for more details. In the meantime look for ways to get to know and work with others, whether in a neighboring congregation, a mosque or synagogue nearby, or the other parents at soccer.

 Read full blog post

As Donna mentioned in her blog post, there was diverse representation.  And many of the NMCC board members were present. Beyond the mechanics of how to work together, we also talked about the values that are important to our congregations, denominations and organizations, including the concept of stewardship and caring for the Earth and our neighbors.

Photo courtesy of Kay Huggins

Some faces were new to me and others were very familiar  (including a couple of Bread members).  Among those sitting at the table with me were Rev. Kay Huggins Sister Joan Brown, Rev. Phil Wanberg, Mary Carter, Rev. Pat Holman, Daniel Erdman, Claudia Trueblood, Rene Ronquillo, Will Drobnick, Betty Drobnick, Rosie Shawver and others.

We eagerly anticipate taking part in follow-up conversations on how to make this dream become  a reality.

How to Turn Cement Bags into Crabs

Can you believe these beautiful paper mache crabs were once cement bags?  Okay, there are some old  newspapers mixed into the materials, but the genius for these crabs and for many other beautiful sculptures comes from artists Aly Abraham of Port-au-Prince and Laura Bruzzeze of Albuquerque.  Check out their offerings in the Paper Turtle site in the Etsy Store.  The Paper Turtle Web site is also a great source of information.  After all, it's not too early to start thinking of your Christmas presents.

Thank You! Nancy Pope

As she leaves the New Mexico Collaboration to End Hunger, Nancy Pope is grateful and appreciative.

Ending hunger has been the most meaningful work of my career. Because of your work to end hunger I know you understand this also. I so appreciate being able to work with each of you over the past 4 + years - it has been an amazing journey!

A special Thank You reception was held for Nancy on Aug. 18

But Nancy Pope is also angry. Angry that hunger persists in so many areas.  She's angry at legislators for allowing it to continue.  In particular, she singled out the representatives of the 50 metropolitan areas that have the highest rate of insecurity, the majority of whom are Democrats.  (Even though all our anti-hunger efforts are bipartisan/nonpartisan, she made a point to single them out because she considers herself on the progressive end of the political spectrum).

It is this kind of passion that was the hallmark of Nancy's tenure as director of the Collaboration.  But it takes more than passion.  It takes great strategizing and partnering with the community.  Her ability to put these qualities together earned her great recognition.  In 2010, she won a place among the finalists for the Champions Against Hunger award,

One of the tasks of the Collaboration was to find a way more accurately measure the extent of hunger in our state in order to develop a five-year plan.  Here is the full plan (in PDF format)   The data was obtained through a series of consultations held in different communities around the state.

Under Nancy, the Collaboration also joined with Share Our Strength (SOS) to launch the No Kid Hungry New Mexico campaign, which is part of a broader national campaign.  The program was first implemented in states where there are strong anti-hunger coalitions already working on this issue.  And New Mexico is one of those states.

And if you're measuring statistics, a recent USDA report showed that New Mexico dropped out of the Top 10 among the most insecure states in the country.  "This means that we helped moved 28,000 New Mexicans out of food insecurity," Nancy said when the report was released in November 2010.  And yet, as we celebrated these trends, we also recognized that New Mexico had a 14.7% rate of food insecurity, leaving tens of thousands of other New Mexicans hungry.  For sure, there is work to be done.  But Nancy left a solid foundation for her successor to continue that very important work.

We certainly will miss Nancy here in New Mexico. We thank her for all her great work and wish her the best of luck in the next stage of her career.  (For me it's "see you next time," since I might catch up in Washington when I go to the nation's capital for the meeting of the Bread for the World board).

Congratulations to Lutheran Episcopal Ministry

Luther House (now Lutheran Episcopal Ministry at UNM and CNM) has been associated with Bread for the World New Mexico for as long as I remember.  When I first moved to Albuquerque back in 1992, Lutheran Campus Pastor Howard Corry was the grassroots leader for Bread in New Mexico Congressional District #1.  Pastor Anne Morawski, who succeeded Howard, has been a strong supporter of our Bread efforts, helping with some of our ecumenical worship services and our U2 Agape Service (a version of the U2Charist). 

So I would like to take this opportunity to join with Lutheran Episcopal Ministry at UNM and CNM in celebrating 50 years of faithful ministry to students at the University of New Mexico and Central New Mexico Community College.  Please join us in offering our congratulations.

50th Anniversary Celebration for 

Lutheran Episcopal Ministry at UNM and CNM

Festive Worship Service at 5:00 pm. 

Bishop Allan Bjornberg will preach. 

Cook-out at 6:00 pm with music by Paul Pino and the Tone Daddies.

Saturday, September 17 

5:00pm - 8:00pm

St Paul Lutheran Church-ELCA

1100 Indian School Road NE

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Judy Collins Performance to Benefit St. Martin's Hospitality Center

Remember the songs Both Sides Now, Send in the Clowns and Turn, Turn, Turn?  Can you remember what popular artist sang those songs?  If you said Judy Collins, give yourself a pat on the back.   

And did you know that Judy Collins is coming to Albuquerque to perform for a fundraiser for St. Martin's Hospitality Center?  The concert is on Sept. 3 at Sandia Resort and Casino.  All ticket proceeds and a percentage of CD sales will go to St. Martin's to directly benefit individuals and families who are homeless.

Tickets are $25-$75.  You can find the link to purchase them on our website (www.smhc-nm.org) or go directly to Ticketmaster.  You can also purchase tickets at the Sandia Resort & Casino box office, so you won’t have to pay the Ticketmaster surcharge.  For more info, contact Karen at KNavarro411@yahoo.com

Famous for her incredible voice and her songwriting, Ms. Collins has a long history of activism, including writing the ballad "Che" in honor of Che Guevera and testifying at the 1969 "Chicago Seven" trial, where she sang Pete Seeger's Where Have All the Flowers Gone? before judge and jury. Her son, Clark, committed suicide in 1992 at the age of 33 after a long bout with depression and addiction; since his death she has become a strong advocate of suicide prevention. She is currently a representative for UNICEF and campaigns on behalf of the abolition of landmines.

See you at the concert on Sept. 3!

Join CARE Call on Crisis in Horn of Africa on Tuesday

The CARE Action Network invites you to a conference call to hear CARE's response in the Horn of Africa and the role that the government plays in current and future relief and development efforts. The call is on Tuesday, August 16, 6:00 Mountain Time, 8:00 Eastern Time  Click on this image below for more details.

click twice on image to enlarge

More than 28% of Households in New Mexico Suffer from Food Hardship

From the New Mexico Collaboration to End Hunger and No Kid Hungry New Mexico

This just in from the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC): More than 28% percent of households with children in New Mexico reported they suffered from "food hardship" (an inability to afford enough food) in 2009-2010.

FRAC announced the numbers in the latest report in its “Food Hardship in America" series, which analyzes data that were collected by Gallup and provided to FRAC. FRAC has analyzed responses to the question: “Have there been times in the past twelve months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?”

Some food hardship details for New Mexico:

• In 2009-2010, 28.3 percent of households with children in New Mexico said they were unable to afford enough food. The food hardship rate for households without children was 16.5 percent.

• For the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), the food hardship rate for households with children was 28.2 percent in 2009-2010, and 15.8 percent for households without children. The Albuquerque MSA ranks the 19th highest MSA out of the 100 largest MSAs for food hardship.

• Two of the three congressional districts in New Mexico had more than one in four households with children reporting food hardship in 2008-2010.

"These data demonstrate...that this is not the time to make our safety net weaker," said FRAC President Jim Weill, "and Congress must ensure that all deficit negotiations protect nutrition programs and other parts of the safety net that help low-income people.”

The data were gathered as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index project, which has interviewed more than one million households since January 2008.

For more detail's visit FRAC's Web site.  

Aid Groups, Rural Farmers, Other Innovators Collaborate to Feed the Planet

Chronic hunger affects one billion people around the world on a daily basis. How are aid groups, rural farmers, and other innovators working together to feed the planet? Find out in this special from Bread for the World and ViewChange.org.

Below is a 45-second trailer. Click here to watch the documentary online.

CNN Interview with Bono and Somali Poet/Singer about the famine in the Horn of Africa

The television program CNN with Anderson Cooper aired  an interview this week with Bono, and Somalian singer/poet K'naan  about the famine in Somalia where 600,000 children are on the brink of starvation.  Here is the full length interview.

A Conversation with a Hatian Artisan

We invite you to meet Aly Abraham, an artisan from Port-au-Prince, who will be in Albuquerque next week. Aly is a partner with Albuquerque resident Laura Bruzzeze in a crafts business that produces beautiful paper-mache sculptures. All the art pieces designed by Laura and Aly are hand-made in Haiti with recycled materials and are intended for sale in the US gift market.  

Some of the pieces of art are available through the Etsy Store, which assists non-profit organizations with marketing their products.  For more information see an earlier blog post and the Paper Turtle Web site.

To meet and chat with Aly Abraham, you are invited to a reception  

Tuesday, August 16

Laura Bruzzeze's studio

412 13th St NW (downtown between Central & Lomas) 

5:00-7:00 p.m.

This is an informal gathering/conversation for Aly to meet Paper Turtle's Kickstarter Backers and anyone else interested in learning about what's going on with Haiti now, the challenges of running a small business there, and the business partnership formed by Aly and Laura. Light refreshments will be served.

Words of Wisdom from the Late Sen. Mark Hatfield

"We all deserve a full life, not a life cut short by hunger and homelessness. I can't think of a more pernicious violence we face today on our body politic, nor a more just cause we should all work to correct."

- Senator Mark O. Hatfield, who died this past week at age 89

Sen. Hatfield, a moderate Republican from Oregon, was a member of the first Bread for the World board of directors.  Bread could often count on him to support our anti-hunger initiatives.

Here is a quote former Bread President Art Simon about Sen. Hatfield.

Our earliest board (like our boards ever since) included Catholics, evangelicals, and mainline Protestants. The first chair of our board was Eugene Carson Blake, one of the nation’s best known Protestant leaders at the time. He and others, such as Senator Mark Hatfield and Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, gave Bread immediate credibility, not to mention wise guidance.   Comment from Art Simon in a  Legacy of Hope newsletter in the Fall of 2008

Stockpiling Seeds Could Avert Future Food Crisis

Even though there are more than 7,000 known edible plant species, 80 percent of our calorie intake comes from just 12 plant species – eight grains and four tubers?  And according to a Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, one-fourth of the world’s known plant species – some 60,000 to 100,000 species – are threatened with extinction.

Scientists like Paul Smith of Kew Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) in West Sussex, England, warn that this situation has left communities around the world are highly vulnerable to pests, diseases, and climate change. 

The MSB is trying to address this problem through a campaign to bank seeds of rare and threatened plants. "With 120 partner institutions in more than 50 countries, MSB is the largest plant conservation project in the world. In 2009, the bank achieved its target of collecting seeds from 10 percent of the world’s plant species. Its next goal is to secure 25 percent by 2020," said an article in The Christian Science Monitor.

"Banking seeds of useful plants is the first step in finding varieties that can help confront pressing global problems – from water scarcity to deforestation to restoring endangered habitats," said the article, authored by reporter Janeen Madan.

Read more about this interesting project in the Monitor's article entitled  Stockpiling Seeds Saves Plants for the Future

How You Can Help with the East Africa Crisis

There is a crisis 8,000 miles from us.  While the situation in the Horn of Africa is extremely urgent, this is a crisis that is not causing havoc with the global economy, so world leaders are not responding appropriately.

For those of us who are people of faith and citizens of the United States, it is important to respond.  Here are some suggestions..

Learn 
This great background section from Bread for the World has a lot of resources, including a timeline and a video.  And here are a couple of background pieces from Doctors Without Borders.
Dadaab, Kenya: Somalis Fighting For Survival
Somalis in Kenya: From One Desert to Another

Pray
We must hold every man, woman and child affected by the crisis in our hearts through prayers.  Each in our own way, can find the best way to do this.  Here is an excerpt from  a great prayer by Mark Koenig, Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations

O God,
the ground is parched,
the food is limited and costly,
and your children,
our brothers and sisters,
hunger, sicken, and die
in the Horn of Africa.

O God, strengthen our sisters and brothers who hunger;
comfort our brothers and sisters who grieve;
accompany our sisters and brothers who leave their homes.
Read full prayer

Advocate
ONE: Parts of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia are facing one of the worst droughts in 60 years, and more than 12 million people are desperately in need of food, clean water and basic sanitation. Despite the urgency of the situation, most world leaders are responding too slowly. Immediate aid is essential. Yet at the same time we must not let them drop the ball on long term solutions as has too often happened in the past. Sign On-Line Petition to World Leaders.

Donate
I'm sure you know of many worthy organizations involved with relief efforts in the Horn of Africa.   Rather than offer a long list, I'll mention three very worthy groups.

CARE: An ongoing civil war and a severe drought in Somalia is driving tens of thousands of people to seek refuge across the border in the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya. However, Dadaab is extremely beyond capacity and the influx of new arrivals is straining already-limited resources.

The refugees are exhausted, weak and dispirited — and they are not alone. There are 11 million people in the Horn of Africa facing the most severe food crisis in the world today and the worst drought to affect the region in 60 years. There is little likelihood of the food crisis and drought letting up until 2012.
Donate to CARE

Catholic Relief Services: This is being called the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. CRS and our partners are responding to this disaster at the refugee camps near Dadaab and elsewhere in the most affected areas in Ethiopia and Kenya. Shelter, water and food are stretched to the limit, and we urgently need your help. Donate to  Catholic Relief Services' East Africa Emergency Fund.

Doctors without Borders/Medicins sans Frontiers (MSF)/: Somali refugees continue to arrive at the overcrowded camp complex in Dadaab, northeastern Kenya, every day. They are fleeing the violent conflict in Somalia and the devastating effects of ongoing drought and lack of food. The third week of July alone brought 5,117 new refugees, pushing the total number of people in and around the Dadaab camp to 387,893. The three camp sites—Ifo, Hagadera and Dagahaley—were originally built to hold a combined 90,000 people.   Support MSF's Lifesaving Work

Musical Benefit for Children of Palomas on Saturday

A musical benefit to aid the children of Palomas, Chihuahua, attend school this 2011-2012 school year will be held at A.I.R. Coffee Company at 208 Central Ave. in Bayard, N.M., tomorrow, Saturday August 6, 10:00 a.m. to Noon.

Local, celebrated musicians will be Danny Cordova, playing traditional Spanish guitar and Latin jazz, Eileen Sullivan playing Irish fiddle, and Valentina Victoria Watson on the Venezuelan cuatro, singing traditional music, including lullabies and "La Llorona."

Please attend, to help raise registration fees so that children in Palomas may attend school. School supply donations are welcome, as are donations of new children's shoes, and boys' black pants and white shirts.

Donations of non-perishable food are welcomed!

The situation of children in Palomas is dire. We estimate that only half of Palomas children now attend school. Your attendance can open doors in a child's present and future during the ongoing humanitarian crisis at our Mexico border.

Contact Victoria Tester at 575-536-9726 or childrenofpalomas@yahoo.com

NOTE: bulk grade beans for Palomas to be picked up by Victoria Tester

are available through Diaz Farms in Deming, N.M., at 30 dollars for a 100 pound bag. please consider donating a bag to our next month's family food distribution. if you decide to order beans, please let Victoria Tester know by e-mail at childrenofpalomas@yahoo.com

How Many Communities Can we Get to Issue a Proclamation in Support of Local Food Month?

What comes to mind when you think about October in Albuquerque?  The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, of course.  But there is an important event taking place during that month in Albuquerque and other communities around the state: Local Food Month

The initiative was conceived by Burque Bioneers, the MRCOG (Mid-Region Council of Governments) Agriculture Collaborative and organizers of Food Day New Mexico to highlight the many agriculture, food and health related events already planned for the month of October around the state. It has now grown to include more than 50 organizations, businesses and individuals.

Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry has been asked to issue a proclamation supporting the Local Food Month NM initiative and similar endorsements have been requested from other politicians. 

More importantly, you are encouraged to advocate for Local Food Month in your own community in New Mexico. Organizers will supply a drafted letter for any individual or organization that wishes to pursue a proclamation in a New Mexico town, city, county or other community.  The letter includes the list of supporting organizations.   Please contact localfoodnm@mrcog-nm.gov to get a copy of the letter.

Why should you participate?  Here is what the organizers say:

The local food system and the health of New Mexico residents improves as more individuals, organizations and agencies support the growing and distribution of healthy, local food within our state. There are numerous organizations in New Mexico working to preserve our agricultural heritage, improve community health conditions, educate the public, keep valuable food-related revenue in our state, and ensure that all people have access to affordable, healthy, fresh foods regardless of income level. Many of these organizations have signed on to support a Local Food Month initiative in New Mexico.

Stay tuned for updates

Budget Cuts Already Afffect Some Local Assistance Programs

You probably heard by now that Congress made some deep cuts to the 2011 and the 2012 budgets, and many of the cuts involve reductions in funding for public-assistance programs.  Proponents (Tea Party Republicans) are throwing out many phrases and concepts being thrown out there to justify the cuts, such as reduce the size of government, balance the budget, live within our means.  How can the richest country in the world not have money to help the most vulnerable in society?

To illustrate the impact of the cuts, we can easily find several local examples.  An article in this morning's Albuquerque Journal describes how a sharp reduction in the federal Emergency Food and Shelter Program is going to limit the ability of social-service organizations, including St. Martin's Hospitality Center (where my wife Karen is a Client Advocate), to serve the homeless and near-homeless population.  The program, in place since 1983, has disbursed more than $3.7 billion in more than 2,500 counties and cities since it began.

Illustration by Kelli Fischer

In New Mexico, funding is being reduced by 40% this year (from $885,000 to $545,000), leaving many social-service organizations in a bind.  To make matters worse, the formula is being changed so two of our most populated counties, Bernalillo (Albuquerque) and Santa Fe, are not elegible for funds this year.

It means we can’t assist people who are near homeless with their utilities. It means that shelter services such as showers, clothing and storage will be cut,” Vicky Palmer, associate executive director of St. Martin’s told The Journal. “It’s so depressing that the people who are the most marginalized are having to pay for this shortfall.”

If you have a subscription to the Journal (either through direct delivery or online), click here to read the full article.

U2 Breaks Rolling Stones' Record for Highest-Grossing Tour

It's not just about the numbers of people who attended the U2 concerts over the past two years and the money that the band made, but about the numbers of people who heard the message that fighting global poverty and working toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals should be a priority.

Read article about U2's record-setting milestone in The Guardian.  There are a number of causes, organizations and charities that benefit from U2 donations and exposure.  First and foremost, of course is The ONE Campaign.  See full list.