News Archives

Offering of Letters to support specific foreign aid proposal

3/11/2003

NOTE: A photograph is available.

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - The annual Offering of Letters, an interfaith advocacy campaign, will support an anti-poverty, anti-hunger program proposed last year by President George W. Bush and to be considered this year by the U.S. Congress.

Bread for the World, a Christian advocacy organization working to eliminate hunger, is enlisting congregations from 45 denominations in a letter-writing campaign supporting the Millennium Challenge Account, which would nearly double the amount of money the United States gives to international development assistance - but only to countries that meet certain eligibility criteria.

The president proposed this means of linking greater support from the developed nations to developing nations that are demonstrating responsibility and achievement. In 2003, he announced that the United States will contribute at least $1.3 billion to the new program and will incrementally increase funding to $5 billion annually by 2006.

Through Bread for the World's campaign "Rise to the Challenge: End World Hunger," the organization and church members are asking Congress to make sure the Millennium Challenge Account is fully funded. The account will fund programs to assist eligible countries in improving their economies and thus raise the standard of living for their poor.

"After years of declining foreign assistance budgets, President Bush's proposal is a breath of fresh air," said the Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. "Our campaign provides people of faith a timely opportunity to use the gift of their U.S. citizenship to make a profound difference in the lives of hungry and poor people around the world."

"As a nation, we spend less than one-half of 1 percent of our budget on programs to fight world poverty and hunger," said the Rev. John McCullough, United Methodist clergyman and head of the Church World Service staff.

"This year's Offering of Letters provides a tremendous opportunity for us to tell our elected representatives that we feel this level is shameful for as wealthy and generous a nation as the United States," he added. "Just imagine how different our world would be if ending global poverty was the first principle of our national security interests."

Through working in more than 80 countries, Church World Service has learned that poverty-focused development assistance can improve lives and make a difference for entire communities, he said.

According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, investments in agricultural techniques by the United States and other donors over the past two decades have helped make it possible to feed an extra billion people. On the other hand, about 800 million people in the developing world are chronically undernourished, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Malnutrition, measles, diarrhea and dehydration - all preventable or curable - remain the four leading causes in the deaths of 6 million children under age 5 each year, reports the FAO and World Health Organization. At the same time, USAID says that 3 million lives are saved annually through its immunization programs. And the World Bank notes that infant mortality rates worldwide have been reduced by 33 percent in the past 20 years.

The Rise to the Challenge campaign seeks to have Congress incorporate the following provisions into the Millennium Challenge Account legislation:

· Only the poorest countries should receive assistance from this program.
· Countries must use the funds to increase spending in such areas as health, education, nutrition, clean water, sanitation, agriculture, small-business development and infrastructure.
· This assistance should support national poverty reduction and development strategies designed with broad citizen participation.
· Funding for the program in the U.S. budget should be separate from and in addition to current funding for other development assistance programs.

"The current upsurge in concern about our own national security gives us a political opportunity, this year, to win a stronger, bipartisan U.S. commitment to helping reduce hunger and poverty in the world," Beckmann said. "At this historic moment, people of faith are called to speak out, more strongly than ever before, on behalf of the world's hungry people."

More information about the Offering of Letters campaign can be found at www.bread.org or by calling (800) 82-BREAD. An Offering of Letters kit and children's educational and activity materials are available. The annual hunger report will be published in March.

Back : News Archives 2003 Main

Contact Us

close

This will not reach a local church, district or conference office. InfoServ* staff will answer your question, or direct it to someone who can provide information and/or resources.

Phone
(optional)

*InfoServ ( about ) is a ministry of United Methodist Communications located in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 1-800-251-8140

Not receiving a reply?
Your Spam Blocker might not recognize our email address. Add InfoServ@umcom.org to your list of approved senders.