May the Best Salad Win (And You Can Have a Say)

Who makes the best salad?
Le Cafe Miche  The Grove Cafe and Market     Cafe Lush     Hartford Square

You can have a say with your vote and $1

 Saturday, July 13, Downtown Growers Market, 10:00 a.m.

Anti-Poverty Mom Blog: 7 Reasons You Should Take Your Kids to Lobby Congress

Spending quality time with family and anti-hunger advocacy are two activities that can take up a lot of time.  But as blogger and anti-poverty advocate Cindy Levin, a mother of two girls, tells you, they are not incompatible.  In her blog Anti-Poverty Mom: Fighting Poverty at Home and Around the World, Cindy wrote a great piece pointing out why it is a good idea to take your children on visits to your legislator's office.

Summer's here!...which brings two important events together for parent advocates: congressional recess and summer vacation. Congressional recess is an ideal time to get some quality face-to-face time with your U.S. senator or representative in your local district. District meetings are great because you can talk without them being distracted by all the beltway shenanigans clamoring for attention in D.C. The typical duration of a D.C. visit tends to be about 15-25 minutes. Face-to-face meetings I've attended with members of Congress (MOC) in a home district have lasted close to an hour. That's a lot of personal attention! So, summer is an ideal time to get some face time. But now that school is out, what should you do with your kids while you lobby? My answer: take 'em along.

Cindy lists seven reasons to take your children on a congressional visit.

#1 You may get unexpected face-to-face time and photo ops
Guess what? In general, to an MOC your kids are cuter and more interesting than you are. There's a reason for the tradition of politicians kissing babies.

#2 Nobody wants to be on record being rude to a child
If they don't happen to agree with you, it's highly unlikely that anything will get contentious in front of your children.

#3 You'll make a memorable impression
Good relationships are the key to great advocacy. If you're MOC remembers you by name with a positive association, that's the best. If your kids are polite and respectful, they'll be grateful you're breaking up the routine of their day and be more likely to remember you next time.

#4 It keeps the conversation at the emotional and moral level 
Kids relate best to the moral reasons to help people in need. They have an innate sense of fairness and justice.

#5 You're helping kids grow up to be better citizens
I was terrified with nerves the first time I met my Congresswoman face-to-face. Kids, unlike many grownups, are fortunate to see MOC's as people instead of titles. My children know their Congresswoman as someone who laughs with them and even writes them letters sometimes.

#6 You save on babysitting money
Enough said.

#7 The only thing better than saving the world is saving the world...together
 Along with making great homemade bread, making the world a better place is definitely a legacy I wish to hand down to my girls. We all learn by doing and doing it together makes it more special.

These are just excerpts, and Cindy has much more to say about each of these reasons.  That's why you should read  the full blog post (And check out the great photos!)

Cindy Levin is an advocate with RESULTS and @Shot at Life.  She has also done advocacy for The ONE Campaign and Bread for the World.

Moyers and Company to Feature A Place at the Table

This Sunday (June 30), A Place at the Table co-director Kristi Jacobson and Mariana Chilton, director of the Center for Hunger-Free Communities, will appear on Bill Moyers’ show, Moyers and Company, to discuss the film, shatter stereotypes surrounding federal food assistance programs and the people who utilize them, and to talk about how the problem of hunger can be solved. Watch a preview of the show below. The episode will begin airing this Sunday (check your local listings for air times) and will be available online next week.  (On June 30, Moyers and Co. will air at 5:00 p.m.  on KNME-5-Albuquerque, and at 4:30 p.m. on KENW-Portales). 

Why We Should Support Cooperatives

Colores del Pueblo, a non-profit organization that helps artists in Latin America find markets for their finely made crafts,  put together this great perspective of why purchasing crafts from cooperatives instead of a market (or for-profit retailers) is an important way to ensure that the artisans receive a fair price for their products.  I encourage you to read the organization's mission statement and to purchase clothing, rugs, jewelry, clerical stoles, carvings, slingshots, art and many other items from this wonderful organization.

What is the MOST SIGNIFICANT difference between these two coin purses?

$0.38

$2.00

• One costs $1.62 more than the other.
• One was purchased in the market in Guatemala and one from a fair trade cooperative.
• One helps Guatemalans break out of the continuous cycle of poverty and the other keeps them in it.

HINTS:

1. The weaving of either coin purse requires two hours.
2. The sewing of either coin purse requires ten minutes.
3. Bringing the product to market and/or finding a buyer requires additional time.
4. Both coin purses require $0.30 in materials.

Background: The coin purse on the left sells for $.38 in the market. That price leaves only $.08 to compensate all the people who helped to produce and bring the coin purse to market, but only after transportation, energy and sewing machine costs are covered. What will $.08 buy in Guatemala? Only 2 plain corn tortillas, without beans, without anything. Only the tortillas. Not enough to sustain a child for one meal. It seems incredible that anyone would work so hard for so little benefit. But competition in Guatemala is fierce. Artisans and middlemen are poor and desperate. They know they have to sell at the lowest price possible or someone else will. Thus, they are trapped in the cycle of poverty.

The purpose of cooperatives is to band artisans together to set prices in order to begin to compensate those who bring the product to market with a reasonable wage. As you can see from the breakdown, the wages are still modest but they can provide the basic necessities that mean the difference between a mal-nourished, chronically ill family and a healthy family.

Bread for the World Applauds Passage of Immigration Bill in Senate

Here is an excerpt from Bread for the World's statement following the passage of immigration-reform legislation in the Senate. 

Bread for the World applauds the Senate’s passage of the bipartisan immigration reform bill (S. 744) today, with a vote tally of 68 to 32. The bill includes significant amendments that will help to decrease hunger.

“We commend the Senate for passing this monumental bill. While reducing poverty may not be the primary goal of most contemporary immigration policy reform efforts, Christ’s compassion for the vulnerable compels us to change our broken immigration system so that people are treated fairly,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “This legislation is far from perfect. But failing to pass comprehensive immigration reform is to perpetuate hunger, so we are pleased that lawmakers have taken this crucial step.”

Read the Full Piece

Video: A Closer Look at Why Farm Bill Failed in House

On June 20, the full House of Representatives voted  234 to 195 to turn down the farm bill that was sent over by the House Agriculture Committee.  This was a victory for anti-hunger adovcates because the measure contained $20.5 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and reductions in funding for other anti-poverty programs, including foreign aid.  (To see how your representative voted, click here).   Read more in the Bread blog and Politico

In an interview with MSNBC on  June 22, Maura Daly from Feeding America and Daniella Gibbs-Leger from the Center for American Progress joined host Karen Finney on MSNBC for a closer look at why this legislation failed. (Note: This video is preceded by a commercial advertisement)

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Beyond Baseball, Barbecues and Camping

We often associate summer with fireworks, outdoor barbecues, Wimbledon tennis, Albuquerque Isotopes baseball, camping, the Downtown Santa Fe or Las Cruces growers markets, trips to nearby and faraway places, and sorting food.  Sorting food?  That's right. Since there is more flexibility with schedules for a lot of folks, summer might also provide an opportunity to give back to the community. If this is the case, and if you live in the Albuquerque or Las Cruces area, Roadrunner Food Bank would like to have a word with you. 

Here is what Roadrunner Food Bank has to say:

With the summer months nearly here students, businesses, civic organizations and others might be interested in helping Roadrunner Food Bank prep food for distribution and help hungry clients across the state. The Food Bank can accommodate a maximum of 100 volunteers per shift at its Albuquerque branch location, and 30 people per shift in its Southern Branch in Las Cruces.

Matt Sanderson, event and volunteer engagement manager said, “Thanks to the generosity of some of our largest food donors, we are seeing an unexpected influx of food. While these donations are wonderful and help us feed hungry clients around the state, we are in desperate need of more volunteer help. Right now we estimate we need about 100 volunteers every two hours between 8 am and 3 pm.”

Last year, more than 10,000 people volunteered at the Food Bank, but more help is needed this summer. Volunteers help prep food for distribution by sorting food and produce, packing bread boxes, helping re-pack bulk items into smaller quantities, helping process recycling materials, pulling orders for food being delivered to agencies, and so much more. The Food Bank depends on the help of a small army of volunteers to prep about 90,000 pounds that leave its docks every day for distribution to a network of hundreds of food pantries, soup kitchens, and other food assistance programs in the state.

Sanderson said, “Since we can accommodate such a large volume of people at one time, volunteering at the Food Bank is ideal for businesses too. We invite businesses to bring a group of employees and their families to join us. Volunteering is a great way to build team spirit and studies have shown that companies that encourage employee volunteerism build job satisfaction. We would be honored to have businesses and their employees spend some time with us this summer.”

Large groups, small groups and individuals are encouraged to help. Community members can volunteer in either the Albuquerque Branch or Southern Branch based in Las Cruces. Two, four or six hour volunteer shifts are available from 8 am to 3 pm, Monday through Friday. The Food Bank will also open some Saturdays over the summer from 8 am to noon including June 15 and July 20. To volunteer at either branch location, register online or call 505.349.8825.

For more information about volunteering, contact Matt Sanderson, event and volunteer engagement manager at Roadrunner Food Bank by calling 505.349.8825 or matt.sanderson@rrfb.org.

'One Chicken per Client' (But Everyone Gets One)

Roadrunner Food Bank, with the help of grant from Morgan Stanley, has developed a special program this summer to provide food in eight communities in Albuquerque and Las Cruces where low-income children qualify for subsidized meals during the school year. When school is in session, these low-income children have access to a nutritious breakfast and lunch, but those meals are not available after school ends in May.
 
"Once summer is here, suddenly families don’t have the ability to afford those extra meals at home," said Roadrunner Food Bank. "This new program will ensure the most vulnerable families in these schools will have access to enough food this summer."

Roadrunner Food Bank will distribute food at five schools in Albuquerque  and three in Las Cruces via its mobile food pantry through the week of Aug. 5. Produce, meat and other food items will distributed at most sites every two weeks, although the mobile food pantry will be at Atrisco Heritage Academy weekly.

Distribution sites in Albuquerque: Atrisco Heritage Academy High School, Hayes Middle School and La Mesa, Mission Avenue and Pajarito elementaries.Distribution sites in Las Cruces: Booker T. Washington and MacArthur elementaries and Lynn Middle School. (Note: Distributed food at these sites is for the families whose children attend these schools and have been identified as in need. The general public should call 505.349.8841 for food assistance or click on the Get Help button on the Roadrunner Food Bank Web site).

Atrisco Academy and Pajarito Elementary School, two schools in Albuquerque South Valley, were featured in an article in The Albuquerque Journal on June 18, the first day when the mobile food pantry came to those sites.  Here is an excerpt:

Using baby strollers, laundry baskets, wheeled carts and milk crates, families showed up to tote home the food that would feed 144 adults and 162 children, 80 of whom are students at Pajarito, according to volunteer Pamela Campos, the school’s family support liaison who helped run the three-hour donation.

Recipients lined up 50 strong outside the school before 10 a.m. and went inside the school’s gym a few at a time to stock up on Texas onions, yellow squash, green zucchini, key limes, pasta shells, rice, pinto beans, dried tomatoes, bagged bagels and cereal. There were also six boxes of whole frozen chickens. “Everybody gets one, OK?” Campos called out to families. “One chicken per client.”

Read full article, entitled New Program Feeds Hungry Kids (If you don't have an online or delivery subscription, you can still see the article by answering a couple of questions from advertisers).

The food-distribution effort is made possible by a grant of $50,000 from Morgan Stanley, which provided a total of $8 million for similar programs to Feeding America affiliates  across the U.S. this summer.

How Much Bad News Can We Take Regarding the Well-Being of Kids in New Mexico?

The question is: How much bad news can we take regarding the plight of children in New Mexico? Last week, I posted about our state's ranking as the worst for children in Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap report.  Then there was a little bit of good news showing that we made progress in 2012 in expanding summer feeding programs for school children.

And now comes the Annie E. Casey Foundations' 2013 National Kids Count Data Book. This report, which measures various categories related to the general welfare of children, put New Mexico dead last (50th out of 50 states!)for the first time since the survey began in 1990. An article in the Albuquerque Journal on Monday  morning described the situation well in its opening paragraph:""After circling the drain for more than two decades, New Mexico finally got sucked in, coming in last in a national survey ranking childhood well-being."

The report provided a rating on four areas that affect children in our stats in the long term: economics, education, health, and family.  And to be fair, New Mexico didn't rank last in any of these categories. It was in the penultimate place.  Mississippi was the worst in both economic well-being and community; Montana was at the bottom in health, and Nevada had the worst situation in terms of education.  But what is the difference between 49th place (where are state ranked in all of these categories) and 50th?

And when it all the scores are added and averaged, someone has to be last.  “(We give) a standard score for each of the indicators, then everything gets added together,” said Annie F. Kasey demographer Laura Speer, who produced the report over three months with data from the Centers for Disease Control, the  U.S.Census, the National Center for Health Statistics and other federal agencies.

Read full article in Albuquerque Journal (If you don't have an online or delivery subscription, you can still view the full piece by answering a few questions from advertisers)

Or you can see the full report in the Kids Count Data Center

Report Gives New Mexico Good Marks on Summer Feeding Programs in 2012

In the midst of all the bad news about child hunger in our state, (especially Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap report), I want to highlight  a report that actually had good news about hunger and school children in New Mexico.  If you look at the illustration above, about a dozen states are colored in green in this map released by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) via its report entitled Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation.  Even though the report was released in the summer of 2013, it deals with data for 2010 through 2012.  New Mexico is one of those green states!

The map shows the states that made progress  in 2012 in providing federally subsidized meals to children in low-income areas. The two federal Summer Nutrition Programs—the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) SeamlessSummer Option and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)—provide funding to serve meals and snacks to children: at sites where at least 50 percent of the children in the geographic area are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals; at sites in which at least 50 percent of the children participating in the program are individually determined eligible for free or reduced-price school meals; and at sites that serve primarily migrant children.

Once a site is determined eligible, all of the children can eat for free. Summer camps also can participate, but they are only reimbursed for the meals served to children who are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals. The NSLP also reimburses schools for feeding children that attend summer school.

"Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation provides national and state-level analysis of summer meals programs in 2012, updates on the program and overview of state-level legislation related to summer meals. The report shows a slight national increase in participation, though it still only reaches one in seven kids that eat a free or reduced-price lunch during the school year, said Kim Caldwell, program manager at NoKid Hungry (a project of Share Our Strength).

Here is what the report says about New Mexico, which reported 49,411 children participating in the program in July 2012.

Four top performing states managed to reach at least one in four of their low-income children in July 2012, when comparing Summer Nutrition to regular school year lunch: District of Columbia (59.8:100), New Mexico (30.2:100), New York (27.6:100) and Vermont (26.0:100). The three top performing states maintained their rankings from 2011 despite decreases in participation: District of Columbia (-16.5 percent), New Mexico (-1.5 percent), and New York (-2.1 percent). Vermont increased participation by 23.7 percent in order to rank 4th nationally.

See the full report for much more information, tables and other data 

(By the way, my thanks to Sarah Newman, former program manager at the New Mexico Collaboration to End Hunger, for pointing me to the FRAC report. The Collaboration was a major partner with NoKid Hungry New Mexico, which played a major role in promoting summer feeding programs for children in our state. Because of lack of funding and other reasons, the Collaboration and NoKid Hungry New Mexico ceased to exist in 2012).

A Turn for the Worse: New Mexico Now the Most Food Insecure State for Kids

I guess we could call it a case of good timing  Feeding America released its Map the Meal Gap report on the day that we were scheduled to visit our congressional representatives on Capitol Hill.  The study estimates the rate of food insecurity by state and county for the general population and also children. It also estimates the number of meals missing from each state and county as well as the dollar shortfall.

But the report's statistics for New Mexico were hardly the type of news we wanted to share our fellow Bread for the World advocates. The report showed that New Mexico now ranked first in the number of hungry children nationwide.  But the ranking was not is important as the fact that nearly 10,000 more children were hungry than in 2012.  And the report showed that the number of New Mexico residents facing food insecurity had increased by more than 36,000 from 2012. 

The findings of "Map the Meal Gap" are based on statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and food price data and analysis provided by The Nielsen Company (NYSE: NLSN), a global information and measurement company providing insights into what consumers watch and buy. The study was supported by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and Nielsen.

“The results from this study are appalling. It’s shocking to learn that a third of our children aren’t able to access enough food to eat on a regular basis," said Melody Wattenbarger, president and CEO of Roadrunner Food Bank in Albuquerque.  "Hunger continues to be a silent issue in our community and more people need to get involved and take action. We want our children to do better in school, yet they don’t have the meals necessary to fuel their bodies and perform well.”

The information, however, did give us additional ammunition for our arguments to congressional aides that funding for safety-net nutrition programs should be protected.  See our our New Mexico Lobby Day report and the list of congressional offices that were visited.

Hunger is at an all-time high right here in our own state. All of us should be completely horrified at these latest figures. As a community, more support is clearly essential.  -Melody Wattenbarger, President and CEO, Roadrunner Food Bank

The Map the Meal Gap report also tracks hunger statistics by county. Bernalillo County (primarily Albuquerque) has the largest number of hungry people with 112,090 or 17.1% followed by Doña Ana County (primarily Las Cruces) at 18.1% or 37,280 people.  These are in terms of total numbers and not percentage of the population that suffers from food insecurity.  (Those figures are in a table below).

“Hunger is at an all-time high right here in our own state. All of us should be completely horrified at these latest figures. As a community, more support is clearly essential," said Wattenbarger. "Not only do we need to ensure charitable hunger programs have the tools needed to respond, but we also need to appropriately fund and protect federal hunger programs such as SNAP, WIC and others. We can no longer ignore that so many people suffer from hunger. This shouldn’t be a silent issue any more.”

Here are a couple of tables with statistics from the report for the three years in which the study has been conducted.

Childhood Hunger
Year     Number of Hungry Children     Percentage     Rank     Nationwide%
2013    156,930                                         30.6%               1st              22.4%%
2012    146,940                                          28.7%               4th             21.6%%
2011    137,720                                          27.3%           tied 11th         23.2%

Hungry People in New Mexico
Year   Number of Hungry People     Percentage        Nationwide%
2013     417,780                                      20.1%                  16.4%%
2012    381,690                                       18.5%                  16.1%%
2011    336,430                                       17.1%                  16.6%%

Counties with the Highest Percentage of Food Insecurity
Overall Population                            Children
Luna - 25.4%                                  Luna – 43.2%
McKinley – 21.2%                          Guadalupe – 36.8%
Guadalupe and Mora – 19.4%       McKinley – 30.5%
Torrance – 18.7%                          Cibola – 30.1%
Cibola – 18.2%                              Hidalgo – 28.9%

Statistics provided by Roadrunner Food Bank

Two Videos on the Plight of Haitian Immigrants in the Dominican Republic

On Thursday, we posted a guest piece by Hank Bruce and Tomi Jill Folk related to the impact of deforestation on Haiti.  Deforestation is one of the factors affecting the Haitian population.  A broken economy, a major earthquake in 2010, and hurricanes have made life even more difficult for the Haitian population. To escape those conditions, many Haitians emigrate. The journey to the US is difficult because they must cross a treacherous stretch of water to try to reach Florida or Puerto Rico.

The other option is crossing into the neighboring Dominican Republic to take jobs in sugarcane fields or to work in other menial jobs. The life of a Haitian immigrant in the Dominican Republic is no picnic.  Here are a couple of videos, one from Catholic Relief Services and the other from UNESCO, about the types of challenges that Haitians face in their neighboring country.


Haitian Cane Workers from David Rochkind on Vimeo.

CRS: Driven by high unemployment at home, tens of thousands of Haitians cross the border into the Dominican Republic each year to look for work in the sugarcane industry. There, living and working conditions are often dismal. Laborers put in an average of 12 hours per day, but their employers often cheat them out of pay, deny them benefits or fire them without cause.


UNESCO: Haitian migrants toil under the hot sun on sugar plantations in the Dominican Republic. But the majority of them are stateless; even those who are born here, have neither a Haitian nor Dominican passport. Now the UN Refugee Agency and a local non-governmental organization are helping undocumented Haitians become legal citizens.

A Dream About Returning the Forests to Haiti

(excerpted from Sharing the Gifts)
By Hank Bruce & Tomi Jill Folk
© 2009 written to honor the wisdom of the elders of Haiti

The following story is fiction, but it was inspired by some time spent with a group of Haitian elders at a conference several years ago at ECHO Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization in Fort Meyers, Florida. One of the topics at this conference was reforestation programs for Haiti. These elders had some definite opinions on this topic, and the fact that so many of the efforts to implement these programs were done without involving or even consulting with the people who lived there. 

These people are incredibly knowledgeable about the ecology, the degradation and the potential of their country. They are also abundantly aware of the fact that most of the problems the people of Haiti are confronting today are the result of a long colonial legacy. First was the political colonialism, and this was followed by centuries of economic colonialism that has been, in many ways, far more brutal than what was endured earlier. 

This story is an attempt to reflect the comments and ideas Daniel and his friends shared with us. I tried to capture the feeling and attitudes of the people involved, when we take action in countries where there is a colonial history and where the tradition is to disregard the culture and the eco-harmony to solve problems that we caused in the first place. It’s a matter of respect and a willingness to accept the fact that there might be solutions that involve the people. When we can work together, doing with, rather than doing for, people are empowered.

This satellite image from NASA depicts the border between Haiti (left) and the Dominican Republic (right)

Forest Dreams
Little Louis took the old man’s hand and walked with him to the edge of the village. The light in Doc Daniel’s eyes was clouded by the cataracts of age, but the mind was sharp. They stood on the hillside. No trees, no grass, no flowers. There were only the deep scars of erosion and dead brown earth.

“Is this where Papa wants to plant a forest?” Louis asked as he knelt down and scooped up a handful of the barren soil. Then, before his grandfather could answer he added, “What’s a forest?”

“A forest is full of trees. So many trees you can’t count them. Trees that grow fruit and nuts to eat, and medicines to heal our sicknesses. A forest is full of life.” The old man lost his smile. “If the forest was still here, the soil would not have washed away.”

Louis clutched Grandfather’s hand, but didn’t understand. He knew of the few trees that grew in the village, but it was hard to imagine many trees, so many you couldn’t count them.

“I remember the forests that once grew here,” the old man leaned on his cane as he stared out into the emptiness. He started to speak again, but paused.

Louis watched the tears form in the corners of those old eyes, then roll down his cheek, becoming lost in the tangle of the gray beard.

Then a great flash of understanding came to the boy. The hillside was just like Grandfather’s beard. If there had been trees and grass, the water would have been slowed in its journey down the hill. It would not wash away the soil. He was excited as he explained this discovery to Grandfather.

The old man, an elder and a healer, smiled and shaded his eyes from the sun with his hand. Again he stared out into the dead, eroded hillside. This time, however he could see a forest. He could see in his mind, the trees, birds, flowers and vines. He closed his eyes so that he could see even better. He inhaled and smelled the fresh scent of flowers and moist soil. But Louis had never seen a forest, so he could not share the vision.

Finally, they turned and slowly walked back to the village. “Haiti is so poor that we cut down all the trees to feed our cook stoves and make charcoal.”

New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty Op-Ed: Cuts in SNAP Would Hurt the Most Vulnerable

NM Center on Law and Poverty Collage

There is a strong chance that the Farm Bill might come to the floor of the House this week.  And that bill is likely to contain the $21 billion in cuts to SNAP approved by the House Agriculture Committee.  According to The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty (NMCLP), this is a strong concern for our state, since cuts in food-stamp benefits could affect the most vulnerable members of our population.  Our two largest newspapers have weighed in on the SNAP debate, with the New Mexican (Santa Fe) offering strong support for the program, and the Albuquerque Journal advocating for cuts. 

Other voices have come forward,, including NMCLP executive director Kim Posich, who published an Op-Ed in  the Albuquerque Journal on Monday, June 17.  Here are a few excerpts:

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – formerly known as the food stamp program – provides food assistance to over 450,000 low-income New Mexicans. The assistance is in the form of a small monthly stipend put on an EBT card that families can use in their local grocery to help put food on the table.

When added up, the stipends amount to over $ 650 million federal dollars going directly into New Mexican grocery stores every year.

Those who argue for cutting the nutrition program may not know all the facts. The great majority of recipients of SNAP food assistance are children, the disabled and the elderly. Recipients who don’t fit into one of these categories are mostly working adults who toil in low-paying jobs.

The relatively few adults who receive food assistance but aren’t working are special cases, such as pregnant women or a small number of people living in areas of very high unemployment.

These are all people who need help.

Here is the full piece entitled Cutting Food Money Profound Mistake.  (If you are not a subscriber to the newspaper online or via delivery, you can still see the article by answering a couple of questions related to advertisers).

Arguing Against Albuquerque Journal's Editorial on SNAP

On Saturday, we posted excerpts from a great editorial from The New Mexican (Santa Fe) urging support for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).  The New Mexican's editorial was published on June 13, nine days after the state's other major newspaper, The Albuquerque Journal, expressed the opposite opinion.  In its June 4 editorial, The Journal argued that the expansion of SNAP was intended as a temporary measure to respond to the recent economic recession.

According to the Journal editorial, "the recession ended three years ago this month, and though the economy has been recuperating the number of people now receiving food stamps has not declined. In fact, participation in SNAP has increased more than 70 percent in the last five years and is expected to continue rising at least until 2015."

Really? One cannot truly make the argument  that New Mexico is out of the recession. On May 16, the Economic Policy Institute wrote "According to the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions (2013), Bureau of Labor Statistics data released in January 2013 show that over-the-year job growth (comparing January 2013 with January 2012) of 0.4 percent (3,500 jobs) placed New Mexico fourth from the bottom among all states. To return to prerecession unemployment rates, New Mexico would have to create 2,500 new jobs each month over the next three years (author’s analysis of Current Employment Statistics and Local Area Unemployment Statistics)." Read full article

Regarding the question of whether the U.S. is out of a recession, it is true that our country as a whole has regained the household wealth present before the economic turndown.  But the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis points out that"most families have recovered much less than the average amount.  Read More.

The Journal's editorial was also published a week before Feeding America released its Map the Meal Gap study for 2013, which showed that New Mexico ranked as the most food insecure state for children in the United States.  (More details to come)

The Journal editorial also misses the mark with its argument that the expansion is creating dependency. Expansion of the benefit was never intended to be permanent. Nobody is suggesting the program should be done away with or taken away from the neediest. But Congress should move to trim back spending before the expanded benefits evolve from a temporary safety net into a permanent entitlement," said the newspaper  Here is the Full Editorial (If you are not a subscriber, you can see the full piece by simply answering a few questions related to advertisers)

A study from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service shows that 3 out of 4 SNAP participants leave the program within 2 years, and half receive benefits for 10 months or fewer.  Additionally, the program was created to respond to need, and it's obvious that the need exists.

The Journal's editorial elicited outrage among many readers.  I don't know whether the Journal received any letters in support of its editorial, but the newspaper chose to publish four letters on Sunday, June 16, that criticized its stance.  Here are some excerpts from these letters:

Letter 1
Does the phrase “jobless recovery” sound familiar? It refers to our current economic situation, where employment lags behind the measure of overall activity. Another way of putting it is that the benefits of the recovery are going to the top income levels and not making their way down to the workers. In the best of recoveries, job growth tends to be the last thing to improve; this time it is slower than usual. Add to this the news in your paper that New Mexico wages are below the average U.S. levels, and you can see why this is the wrong time and the wrong place to advocate making it harder for people to get food stamps.

Letter 2
The food stamp program will continue to expand as long as the wealthiest 2 percent contrive to push more of the middle class into poverty for the greed of short-term gain. It’s short term because eventually not enough people will be able to purchase goods and services. At that stage your concern will no longer be about food stamps. Perhaps “let them eat cake” might be a clue.
 
Letter 3
Federal guidelines for poverty haven’t changed since the 1960s while food costs have risen significantly. The costs for child care, housing, insurances, transportation and taxes have also all increased creating a monumental division between what people have to spend and the cost of living. The real benefits of food stamps are to children who can’t learn, grow or look to a healthy future without good nutrition. According to the Children’s Defense Fund report of January 2012, approximately 175,000 children in New Mexico qualify for SNAP. That is 40 percent of SNAP payout in our state. Please don’t think these children have lazy parents because 32 percent are from families with at least one working member according to the N.M. Association of Food Banks.

We live in a state with many working poor people. SNAP provides only 2.3 weeks of nutrition for these families. What do parents do so children can eat for the other 1.7 weeks of the month? Adults go without food, without medicine, without health insurance, or reduce their work time to pay for child care, transportation, housing. None of these “solutions” produce a better life for their families or our economy. Wouldn’t perpetual corporate subsidies be a better handout to consider for cuts?

Letter 4
The Journal says to trim back before this level of the program becomes an entitlement. Would that be before a hungry 5-year-old thinks he is entitled to not be hungry? Or before a pregnant mother and her child learn how comforting it is to get adequate nutrition every day? Maybe what the Journal really wants is to replace entitlement with “expectation”: the 5-year old expecting to be hungry each day, and the pregnant woman expecting that from now on, life will always be difficult for her and her — unborn — child.

Here is the link to the Letters to the Editor Page for Sunday, June 16,

On Father's Day, We Celebrate Pope Francis' Prophetic Role

One of the Jesuit values (at Loyola University New Orleans)

On this Father's Day, I was simply going to post a quote from Pope Francis urging the faithful to rethink our economic values and place a priority on changing a system that promotes the types of inequalities that are causing suffering around the world.  But as I was looking for the best quote, I came across several options, so I decided to make this into a full blog post.

In his short tenure as the Bishop of Rome,  Jesuit Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio has fully embraced the name he chose when he was elected as pope.  Francis of Assissi was a strong advocate for simplicity and caring for the poor, and Pope Francis has fully used his prophetic role as head of the Vatican to advance these values. By biblical definition, a prophet is not a person who predicts the future, but one who speaks out about the ills of society, such as injustice, oppression and the pursuit of a luxurious lifestyle at the expense of the poor. (Sound familiar?)

“A savage capitalism has taught the logic of profit at any cost, of giving in order to get, of exploitation without thinking of people... and we see the results in the crisis we are experiencing,” the pope said in comments tothe men and women coming to the 'Gift of Maria' food kitchen, located at the walls of the Vatican in May.

A few days later,  Francis told members of a charitable foundation in Rome that unemployment was “spreading like wildfire in large areas of the West and ... alarmingly extending the boundaries of poverty.” He continued, “there is no worse material poverty, I would like to emphasize, than that which deprives someone of earning their living, deprives them of the dignity of work. By now this 'something wrong' is not just affecting the southern regions of the world, but the entire planet.”

Francis has called for “a global rethinking of the entire system, seeking ways to reform and correct it in a manner consistent with fundamental human rights.”

The pope's statements have caused some uncomfortable moments for those who promote a libertarian vision of capitalism, where the market is allowed without any interference whatsoever to dictate the direction of our global economy.  One blogger claims that "capitalism permits the massive multiplication of wealth for all of society." But he misses the point.  Francis is not calling for an end to capitalism, but rather for society to place limits on the abuses of capitalism.

And as some observers  point out,  the criticism is not aimed just at the U.S., Europe and Japan, but also at some newly wealthy countries. "In a fast-changing economic world, Russia has become a case study in gangster capitalism, while the Chinese Communist Party has hatched a privileged overlord culture as the larger population is teeming with grassroots capitalism," said the The Global Post.  "Neither of these models, nor the casino culture of Wall Street banks in which the Federal Reserve Bank guarantees the house on major losses, shows any interest in human scale, nor an ethical responsibility of creating jobs for the domestic economy."

And while Pope Francis has spoken out frequently about this social ill, his comments are in line with some of the values of his predecessors.  "Rhetoric of this kind echoes John Paul II and Benedict’s encyclicals that criticized the consumerist culture of western capitalism alongside the command economy of Marxism,"said the Global Post.

And even some of the publications whose primary readers are those who embrace capitalism acknowledge that the intention of Pope Francis' statements.  "The former Cardinal placed a strong emphasis on the distribution of wealth, not the creation of it. Spiritually he places emphasis on identification with the poor and the spiritual benefits of living a life of poverty,"  said Forbes  magazine. "Pope Francis has condemned 'ideologies which uphold the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation, and thus deny the right of control to States, which are themselves charged with providing for the common good.”

So on Father's Day, I salute Pope Francis for embracing his role as prophet.  

Santa Fe New Mexican Editorial Urges Support for SNAP

The New Mexican, the daily newspaper in our state capital, posted a great editorial about protecting SNAP and supporting Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham's participation in the SNAP challenge. Here is a big part of the editorial, followed by a link:

Our View: Food programs need support

Sure it’s a stunt, but this one comes at the right time. Twenty-six members of Congress are living off a food stamp budget for a week — that’s $4.50 a day for food — to bring attention to proposed House Republican cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat from Albuquerque, is taking the challenge, and we can’t wait to hear more about her experience; on her first day, she ate a can of tuna and an apple for lunch. (You can follow the week on Twitter at #SNAPchallenge.)

This matters to New Mexicans. We just found out this week that our state ranks first in the country for child hunger and second for adult hunger. One out of three children in our state doesn’t always have enough to eat, according to the hunger relief group, Feeding America. Twenty percent of adults don’t always know where they will get their next meal. Having SNAP available is essential to keeping people fed. Such benefits should be expanded, not cut, especially when people are still struggling.

But Congress wants to cut food stamps, with the House considering legislation that would dump another 2 million off the rolls through changes in the Farm Bill. The Senate version of the Farm Bill has less onerous cuts, but some Republicans want SNAP taken out of farm legislation entirely to make it easier to take food out of people’s mouths. “Unfortunately, the rapid growth of this program has only increased dependency on government and added to our federal deficit,” a group of 25 conservative GOP members led by Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., said in a letter to House leadership on Tuesday. “We believe the current, unwieldy format of the Farm Bill will hinder meaningful reforms to all portions of the legislation, harming American farmers in the process.”

Read full editorial

Lobby Day and the Aftermath of Lobby Day 2013

Constituent Coffee with Sen. Tom Udall

Rep. Lujan Grisham takes SNAP Challenge

There were four of us from New Mexico on Capitol Hill on Lobby Day, June 11: Ellen Buelow, Larry Buelow and Carlos Navarro from Albuquerque and Rev. Art Meyer from Farmington. But we weren't the only ones there.  The social justice committee at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Albuquerque was making calls to the offices of our New Mexico legislators on the same issues that we brought to Congress.

I won't go too much into detail about our appointments with aides (and will post the pictures at the bottom) because there was nothing extraordinary about these meetings. The aides were all gracious and attentive and reinforced the commitment of their bosses--Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, Sen. Tom Udall and Sen. Martin Heinrich--to support safety-net programs, especially the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

We did have a piece of timely (and unfortunate) information to discuss with the legislative aides: The annual Map the Meal Gap 2013 study released on June 10 by Feeding America, indicated that New Mexico is ranked as the most food insecure state among children in the United States.  Roadrunner Food Bank has more information.

We also asked our legislators to support provisions in the Farm Bill to protect and improve food aid in ways that make the program more efficient. A third ask was to replace the sequestration with a balance plan that includes revenues and responsible cuts  (i.e. closing tax loopholes).

While our visits to Rayburn and Cannon (House)and Hart (Senate) were cordial, I would like to highlight some related developments that occurred and are occurring outside of Lobby Day and a few other impressions from Lobby Day.

Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the SNAP Challenge

Courtney Weaver met with us

We missed a personal visit with Rep. Lujan Grisham.  Her plane was late coming in from Albuquerque, so she was unable to get there in time for our 3:40 p.m. appointment.  We were slightly disappointed because she was the only legislator with whom we were scheduled to meet directly. But we did have a great meeting with legislative director Courtney Weaver, who informed us that Rep. Lujan Grisham was joining 26 other members of the House in the SNAP challenge.

Here is what the congresswoman said on Facebook: "For the next week, I will be living on the average SNAP, or food stamps, benefit for an individual - just $4.50 a day. The proposed $20.5 billion SNAP cuts in the House Farm Bill would be disastrous to the 1 in 5 New Mexicans who rely on food stamps for basic nutrition and economic security. Today, I went to the grocery store to buy all the food that I'll be able to eat in the next week. Stay tuned for updates on my SNAP Challenge." 

In her brief time in Congress, Rep. Lujan Grisham has made a mark.  As a member of the House Agriculture Committee, she voted against a Farm Bill that cuts $20.5 billion in SNAP benefits. Unfortunately, she was in the minority, and the committee approved the bill with the drastic cuts.  The full House was expected to vote on the measure on the week of June 17-21.

Constituent Coffee with Sen. Tom Udall

Sen. Udall's office on Lobby Day

On most Wednesday mornings, New Mexico's (now) senior senator offers an opportunity for constituents to mingle with him and with each other. Visitors were offered coffee, biscochitos and green-chile pistachos.  I was among about two dozen people (including several high school students) visiting the office that morning.  This was an opportunity to see one of my federal legislators personally.

While we were shaking hands during a pose for a picture, I took the opportunity to thank Sen.Udall personally for standing among the two dozen or so senators to support  the Gillibrand Amendment, an initiative introduced by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York to restore $4 billion in SNAP benefits that the Senate Agriculture Committee had cut in its version of the Farm Bill.  The full Senate approved the Farm Bill that included the $4 billion cuts in SNAP (primarily by limiting the ability of states to coordinate the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) and SNAP benefits.  Read More from the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC).

The amendment from Sen. Gillibrand would have kept the LIHEAP/SNAP relationship, replacing the cuts with limits on crop reinsurance reimbursements to providers.  The amendment failed by a vote of 70 to 26.

During remarks to the visitors, Sen. Udall took time to acknowledge all the groups that were represented there.  It was good to hear him mention Bread for the World.

Sen.  Martin Heinrich's E-Letter

Posing with Sen. Heinrich's staff

There were 26 senators who voted for the Gillibrand Amendment, and Sen. Heinrich was not on that list.  "Why?"we asked. His staff reassured us that the senator was very concerned about protecting safety net programs, and that the Senate wanted to be in the strongest position possible when having to fend off future efforts to gut safety-net programs, including an amendment by Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma to block-grant nutrition programs.  Here is a link to other amendments that were introduced during Senate debate on the Farm Bill.

Our senators had different approaches on this issue (and we did not necessarily agree with this particular decision on the part of Sen. Heinrich).  But we fully understood his stance and appreciated his commitment to do everything he could to keep the integrity of SNAP and protect against broader efforts to gut safety-net programs.

At Rep. Ben Ray Lujan's office

An e-mail response from Sen. Heinrich to letters written as part of Bread for the World's Offering of Letters reinforced his commitment to protect SNAP.

In New Mexico, over 153,000 children lived in a household that experienced food insecurity in the last year. We must do more to ensure every child has the opportunity to live a healthy and productive life. Food assistance programs enable low-income households to purchase enough healthy foods to meet their family's needs.

 Despite the overwhelming need for these programs in our current economic state, some members of Congress have made repeated attempts to cut these critical anti-hunger programs. I understand the importance that food assistance programs have for New Mexico families, please rest assured that I will continue working for programs that fight hunger.

A Drop-In Visit to Rep. Steve Pearce's Office
Since none of us was a constituent of Rep. Pearce, we did not have an appointment with his office.  So we decided to drop by to leave the same packet that we brought on all other visits.  Larry Buelow, one of the members of our delegation, said he knew someone who had worked for Rep. Pearce's office a long time ago and then left.  He wanted to know if the staff knew of his whereabouts.  When we asked about him, the receptionist said we just missed him by a few minutes! So this staffer was back (providing us for an opportunity to follow up on the packet, which we left for the aide who deals with nutrition programs for Rep. Pearce).

Local Visits
The reception and worship at the end of our long day on Capitol Hill do not mark the end of Lobby Day. We have to contact the congressional aides to thank them for meeting with us and to follow up on commitments and questions they posed during our meetings.  In New Mexico, we hope to follow up with visits to the local offices.  Stay tuned for more information. 

Farewell to Peacecraft, Our Fair Trade Store in Albuquerque

Picture from 2013 World Fair Trade Celebration

Farewell to Peacecraft. Albuquerque's original fair-trade store is closing its doors for good on Saturday, June 15, and that is a very sad development for our community. For nearly a quarter of a century, Peacecraft provided a place in Albuquerque's Nob Hill neighborhood for local residents to buy crafts, clothing, chocolates, coffee and other fair trade products.

Invitation to 2010 fundraiser

Peacecraft was more than just a store.  It offered the opportunity to raise awareness and funds for projects around the world. You might also remember Peacecraft for its bikes for Kenya fundraiser, the Feast for Change, the Fair Trade Trunk show, its 20th birthday celebration and its annual commemorations of World Fair Trade Day.  Some of these events were also linked to fundraisers for the organization at Scalo's and Brasserie La Provence.  But meals, silent auctions and speeches were not the only method by which Peacecraft raised money to keep its operations going.  There was also yoga, a palm-reading session, and a sale of donated jewelry.

The loss of Peacecraft leaves a huge void in our community, not only because some of the crafts makers, textile producers and coffee growers in Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America are losing an outlet to sell their goods, but also because folks in Albuquerque no longer have a place to acquire their products directly.  There are options online, of course, including Ten Thousand Villages, Partners for Just Trade  and the Global Exchange stores. And there is more than one outlet selling fair-trade coffee, including La Montanita Coop, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.  And some churches like Immaculate Conception Church in downtown Albuquerque are promoting fair trade through special events like Just Market.

Before we say goodbye to Peacecraft for good, you are invited to a farewell party for our fair-trade store on Saturday, June 22, at Peacecraft, 3215 Central Ave NE, Albuquerque, 7:00-10:00 p.m.   The party also celebrates the expansion of Maple Street Dance (which had been subleasing the back of the store) and also serves as a farewell gathering for Jim Neustel, Peacecraft's outgoing director.  You can join the party on Facebook.  "All are welcome whether you are part of the Peacecraft community, Maple Street, Nob Hill or friend," said Neustel. "Bring what you want to drink. There will be some snacks, but feel free to bring something to share. Please pass this along to others so no one gets left out."

Thanks for the memories, Peacecraft.  You will be missed here in Albuquerque and around the world.

Care Action Network Invites You to a Screening of Girl Rising on June 22 and June 23

How about dinner and a movie?  Or better yet, how about dinner, a movie, and a fundraiser for CARE?  The New Mexico chapter of the CARE Action Network (CAN), invites you to a local screening of the documentary Girl Rising on Saturday, June 22, at 123 Broadway Blvd. SE, at 6:30 p.m.  This fundraiser for CARE, which includes dinner and drinks, will only cost you $30.

But CARE not only needs your money, but your awareness about the Millennium Development Goals, particularly Goal 2 (Achieve Universal Primary Education) and Goal 3 (Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women).  So if you are unable to go to the Saturday fundraising dinner, you are urged to attend a free screening at the same location on Sunday, June 23, at 2:00 p.m.  

For more information contact Keith West-Harrison, CAN volunteer coordinator in New Mexico,  keithwestharrison@me.com

Check out this trailer of the movie, followed by more information about this wonderful documentary.



10×10 has partnered with CARE to build a global movement promoting girls' education centered on the feature film, Girl Rising.

Girl Rising spotlights the strength of the human spirit and the power of education to change a girl – and the world. Many millions of girls face barriers to education that boys do not. We can help break those barriers by bringing global attention to the enormous benefits of educating girls. Your community is a great place to start.

The film spotlights unforgettable girls like Sokha, an orphan who rises from the dumps of Cambodia to become a star student and an accomplished dancer; Suma, who composes music to help her endure forced servitude in Nepal and today crusades to free others; and Ruksana, an Indian "pavement-dweller" whose father sacrifices his own basic needs for his daughter's dreams. Each girl is paired with a renowned writer from her native country. Edwidge Danticat, Sooni Taraporevala Aminatta Forna and others tell the girls' stories, each in it's style, and all with profound resonance.

These girls are each unique, but the obstacles they faced are ubiquitous. Like the 66 million girls around the world who dream of going to school, what Sokha, Suma, Ruksana and the rest want most is to be students: to learn. And now, And now, by sharing their personal journeys, they have become teachers. Watch Girl Rising, and you will see: One girl with courage is a revolution.

A Wayside Sacrament

Hot Lips Sage

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting - a wayside sacrament. 

Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson