I was in third grade in 1983 when Ronald Reagan, after much hesitancy, signed an act designating the third Monday of each year as a federal holiday honoring the life and contributions of Martin Luther King Jr. I was in…
Together for Hope partnership steps up the drive for hunger relief in Mississippi
Together for Hope is venturing full force into the realm of proposing legislation and lobbying to finance an expansive anti-hunger initiative in Mississippi. “I’ve never participated in a grassroots campaign quite like this,” said Jason Coker, national director of Together…
As a single mother, I find the Nativity story harrowing
Christmas decorations appeared earlier this year in my small town, even before Thanksgiving. Houses and lawns transformed overnight into wonderlands of color. Despite a year that body-slammed many of us, my neighbors used the night’s canvas to paint pictures of…
Baylor initiative feeds 270,483 children in 43 states amid a global pandemic
If the coronavirus outbreak has proved anything, it’s that hunger and poverty must be addressed through creative and collaborative efforts between government, private-sector and faith-based individuals and organizations, according to Jeremy Everett, executive director of the Baylor University Collaborative on…
The Beatitudes for 2020
Listen now, for this is the way of the world: Blessed are the rich, for they can buy the earth. Blessed are the powerful, for they will control the people. Blessed are the war makers, for they will conquer the…
Nationwide, twice as many people are hungry during pandemic
Experts predicted food insecurity would skyrocket as the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the nation’s economy. According to those who regularly minister to the poor and hungry, those predictions have turned out to be accurate. “It’s bigger than anything we’ve ever seen,”…
Despite forced letter from Trump, agencies distributing USDA food boxes
Millions of boxes of USDA surplus food are being shipped with mandated letters from President Donald Trump asserting his concern to protect the well-being of Americans struggling through the coronavirus pandemic — including recommendations for wearing masks and practicing social…
Q&A with Walter Brueggemann: faith in a time of COVID-19
“Right now, too many churches have flown off into spiritualizing generalizations that are unhelpful to everyone.”
COVID-19 may be novel, but there’s nothing new about the virus of poverty | #intimeslikethese
Maybe this unwanted virus could serve as an invisible stranger, confronting us at the riverside of our own generosity (that should not be necessary), begging us to ask the obvious question: Why are so many children so poor to begin with?