Climate, Racial Equity & Hunger

Bread for the World and the ELCA have long been partners working together to end hunger, both domestically and around the world. Bread for the World (BFW) is an effective advocacy ministry of Christians in the United States “urging our nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad by changing policies, programs, and conditions that allow hunger and poverty to persist.” While many of us know BFW mostly for their annual Offering of Letters program, the organization produces many valuable resources useful for those of us who work with our congregations in hunger ministry.

Bread for the World released a set of resources in 2021 that address the connections between climate, racial equity and hunger. These are also many of the same issues and connections that ELCA World Hunger and ELCA Advocacy have been helping us as Lutherans to understand more fully.

The resources are part of the Climate, Racial Equity and Hunger Series and there are fact sheets for African American, Latino/a, and Indigenous Communities. While each is specific with facts about hunger in each of the racial communities, there is much about climate and how it affects the communities, too. For instance, damage to roads caused by natural disasters can create particular hardships for residents of reservations because of distance to grocery stores. At Pine Ridge in South Dakota, people were stranded for weeks in 2019 because of extreme flooding.

Each of the fact sheets concludes with urging our government to honor the expertise and leadership of the racial communities, equitably increase investments in racially based initiatives, and walking in solidarity with these communities. It could not be more important for us as Lutheran Christians, as people in the United States who care about ending hunger, racial equity and the climate of our God-given creation.

Resources:

• African American Communities: https://www.bread.org/library/climate-racial-equity-and-hunger-series-african-american-communities
• Latino/a Communities: https://www.bread.org/library/climate-racial-equity-and-hunger-series-latinoa-communities
• Indigenous Communities: https://www.bread.org/library/climate-racial-equity-and-hunger-series-indigenous-communities

-Vernita Kennen

Incarnation, Shoreview

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