Posts Tagged: presbyterian

October 24, 2016

The Intersectional R,EVOL,ution

Posted 2:37pm

Comments from Andrew Kang Bartlett, Presbyterian Hunger Program, at the Spirit of the Harvest Festival on October 20, 2016 in Sebastopol, CA, sponsored by the Interfaith Sustainable Food Collaborative “It’s an honor to be with you. And it’s great to be here in California where I lived for 13 years before moving to Louisville KY… Read more »

October 3, 2016

The Ten Commandments of Food

Posted 4:50pm

Just in time for the global Food Week of Action! The Food Week of Action begins on Monday, October 10 and includes World Food Day on October 16. Our team has developed these 10 Commandments and Manoj Jurian, coordinator of the Food for Life Campaign, has created this tool for congregations, with brief theological reflections… Read more »

March 15, 2016

PC(USA) Priority on Fair Wages

Posted 11:15am

Campaign for Fair Wages!

The Presbyterian Hunger Program, Presbyterian Women and the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness is joining with congregations, interfaith partners, the Alliance for Fair Food, Interfaith Worker Justice and ROC-United to advance justice in the fields and poverty reduction for all workers through fair wages.

People of faith call for justice in the fields &
living wages to end hunger!

1) Tell Wendy’s to join the Fair Food Program bit.ly/pcusa-fairfood

2) Advocate to raise the minimum wage bit.ly/raise-wage

3) End wage theft www.wagetheft.org

4) Become a Worker Justice Congregation bit.ly/justice-church

5) Organize to protect workers’ rights

*** Download the PDF flyer to share with your congregation and others ***

farmworker carrying tomatoes in immokalee

July 7, 2015

ECONOMICS & TRADE

Don’t Let Food Industry Stir the Pot. Pam Kock, Huffington Post, Mar 23, 2015

The PR War Continues: Monsanto and the myth of peaceful coexistence. Laetitia Benador, Food First, Apr 2, 2015

Trade Rules Create Obstacle Course for a Better Food System. Karen Hansen-Kuhn, IATP, May 15, 2015

John Oliver Explains the Abuses of the Chicken Industry (Not the Ones You Think). L.V. Anderson, Slate, May 18, 2015

Walmart’s Sustainability Promises: Myth vs. Reality. Steve Holt, Civil Eats, Jun 5, 2015

Egg rationing in America has officially begun. Roberto Ferdman, Washington Post, Jun 5, 2015

Whole Foods Markets: Throwing Organic Farmers Under the Bus? Cornucopia Institute, Jun 12, 2015

ENVIRONMENT & FARMING PRACTICES

Climate Change Poses Serious Threats to Food Distribution. Elizabeth Grossman, Earth Island Journal, Mar 4, 2015

Let’s put an end to factory farming. Tom Colicchio, CNN, Apr 6, 2015

Food, Farming and Climate Change: It’s Bigger than Everything Else. Ryan Zinn, Common Dreams, Apr 13, 2015

Feeding the future through agroecology. Dr. M. Jahi Chappell and Tara Ritter. IATP, Apr 21, 2015

FOOD JUSTICE & ADVOCACY

Racism and Capitalism: Dual Challenges for the Food Movement. Eric Holt-Gimenez, Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. Mar 25, 2014

The Color of Food: America’s Invisible Farmers. Natasha Bowens, Civil Eats, Apr 14, 2015

The Color of Food: Building Autonomy as African American Farmers. Natasha Bowens, Civil Eats, Apr 14, 2015

Promised a Supermarket Five Years Ago, a Housing Project Is Still Waiting. Keith Williams, New York Times, Apr 17, 2015

The World Bank’s Long War on Peasants. Eric Holt-Giménez and Tanya M. Kerssen, Food First, Apr 20, 2015

What happened to America’s black farmers? Madeleine Thomas,Grist, Apr 24, 2015

Justice for farmworkers as labor rights bill makes overdue progress in the New York State Senate. Editorial, NY Daily News, May 3, 2015

Can We Finally Treat Food Workers Fairly? Mark Bittman, New York Times, May 27, 2015

The New Food Movement Has a Problem with Race. Lauren Rothman, Mucnhies, May 29, 2015

The Food Revolution and the War for Our Minds. Jonathan Latham, Rural America, Jun 12, 2015

HEALTH & FOOD ACCESS

Fewer NYC teens are drinking sodas: study. Carl Campanile, NY Post, Apr 6, 2015

As Global Food Chain Grows, So Does Risk of Illness. Maryn McKenna, National Geographic, Apr 7, 2015

Food System Recommendations Should Account for More Than Public Health. Gabrielle Blavatsky, EcoCentric, Apr 21, 2015

Lessons from Supermarket Failure in a Food Desert. Kate McCleary, Liveable Future, May 5, 2015

School Lunch May Be Next to Nudge Antibiotics Off the Plate. Maryn McKenna, National Geographic, May 8, 2015

What Happened After One Family Went Organic For Just Two Weeks. Huffington Post, May 14, 2015

France to force big supermarkets to give unsold food to charities. Angelique Chrisafis, The Guardian, May 22, 2015

Former Trader Joe’s Exec Opens Super Cheap Nonprofit Supermarket. Brad Tuttle, Time, Jun 4, 2015

Restaurants Pan New York City’s Plan for High-Salt Labels. Melanie Grayce West, Wall Street Journal, Jun 10, 2015

The Daily Table: Is This What We Really Need? Mark Winne, Beacon Broadside, Jun 30, 2015

OTHER

CT jumps into top 10 in locally produced food index. Hartford Business, Apr 7, 2015

In Newark, a Vertical Indoor Farm Helps Anchor an Area’s Revival. C.J. Hughes, New York Times, Apr 7, 2015

Why “Clean Label” School Lunch May Be a Pipe Dream. Bettina Elias Siegel, Civil Eats, Apr 9, 2015

Council Members Ask De Blasio to Invest in Farmland. Samar Khurshid, Gotham Gazette, Apr 21, 2015

Craft Distilleries and Breweries Take Hold in South Bronx. Winnue Hu, New York Trimes, Apr 22, 2015

USDA Report Shows Increase in Activity of Local and Regional Food Systems. AJ Hughes, Seedstock, May 10, 2015

Vermont: America’s Food Relocalization Laboratory. Steve Holt, Civil Eats, May 13, 2015

Let’s Help Create More Farmers. Mark Bittman, New York Times, Jun 10, 2015

30 Women Under 30 Changing Food. Danielle Nierenberg, Huffington Post, Jun 23, 2015

June 29, 2015

Resources for Refugee Gardens

Posted 12:00pm

Planning your church refugee garden

Are you interested in beginning your own church refugee garden? We’re sharing these documents created by Arrive Ministries to support your endeavor and help address some frequently asked questions.

Contact a local refugee organization or Catholic Charities to see what programs may already exist and to begin developing relationships with refugees in your area.

Church Garden Models contains a listing of the types of refugee gardens that have been established here in the Twin Cities. There are a number of different ways churches can engage in gardens; you may even come up with new ideas of your own!

Church Gardening Goals provides a list of reasons for churches to create gardens for refugees. These reasons are some of the ones cited by those hosting church gardens and refugee gardeners and are helpful in enlisting support of your local church board and membership.

Church Gardens Sample Guidelines is a list of rules based on First Evangelical Free Church (Maplewood) Harvest Community Gardens model. Many area churches develop a similar list and provide it to gardeners at the start of the season, usually as a part of gardener orientation. First Evangelical Free Church has many years experience of conducting a community garden on a large scale. In 2014 they had more than 1200 plots!

Matters to Consider is a document that has been compiled through evaluations and discussions with existing church gardens. These are their suggestions to others – things they felt everyone should be aware of before beginning a garden project.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ~ Gardening, Food & Faith

January 13, 2015

Training a new generation of farmers

Posted 10:54am

The ripple effect of contributions to the Hunger Program, mostly through One Great Hour of Sharing, creates waves of support for organizations like World Hunger Relief, which trains young people like Kaley and Ester, and many more. World Hunger Relief, based on their farm in Waco, Texas, also achieves the difficult task of making connections between local hunger and global hunger. Here are the profiles of two of their interns from their website. We are proud to be a partner!

Intern Profile | Kaley Necessary

Food Systems Intern & Garden Club Coordinator

Kaley comes to us from Indiana Wesleyan University, where she graduated in the spring of 2014 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Pre-Medicine. She also received a minor in International Community Development. Passionate about public health, Kaley became an intern with the Uganda Village Project. She was in Iganga, Uganda for 3 months where she worked as a public health educator conducting weekly education sessions on malaria, sexually transmitted infections, intestinal parasite prevention, family planning methods, nutrition, hygiene and sanitation, and safe water. Her “desire to see people take ownership of their health and well being” grew stronger while in Uganda.

Kaley has strong passions for development and agriculture. In Uganda, she realized her desire to address public health issues through the gateway of agriculture. After her time at World Hunger Relief, Kaley will continue to pursue knowledge of development and agriculture to prepare herself to serve in a developing country. She also hopes to apply her training in a community somewhere in the United States to help develop local food systems.

Intern Profile | Esther Honegger

Livestock Intern

Coming from Lake Zurich, IL, Esther graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2013. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science with a minor in Chemistry. Throughout college, Esther was involved in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and the Pre-Veterinary Club at her school. She was also able to intern at the Champaign County Humane Society, where she monitored the medical and behavioral statuses of the resident animals.

During her participation in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Esther had the privilege to attend a 3-week mission trip to Malawi, Africa, where she served at an orphanage. She was able to teach the children about basic animal biology and directed her teammates in helping her with daily activities.

Esther is using her time at WHRI to learn practical skills in animal agriculture so that she can serve people in a more comprehensive way. She plans to use this knowledge and the knowledge from her studies “to benefit the people of developing nations who don’t have the opportunities to learn about animal biology and health in the depth that I have.”

November 25, 2014

There is Chicken Blood on my Pants (and No, I’m not a Witch).

Posted 12:00pm

It is quite humbling to catch a chicken, hold her, pet her, attempt to calm her, pass her off to Steve, and look her in the eye as the hatchet comes down. Then after plucking feathers, and knifing away the vitals, I carry it on ice to my freezer. I did that today. I caught a bird that has lived at Ferncliff much longer than I have, and helped end her life.

This article is about killing chicken. I thought you should know that here before you decide to keep reading or not.

There was a bright vivacious red color blood. There were feathers–lots of them. There was a small child calling at his father, “please don’t kill it Dad.” There was slimy smelly guts. There was skin. There were feathers we missed. There was yellow fat. It smelled like a dead animal, it did a lot of twitching. It bled on me. It’s smell lingers in my arm hairs hours later.

Farm to EVERY Fork

Posted 1:26pm

group photo with t-shirts
“Guess who loved their Farm to EVERY Fork t-shirts?” asks pastor Warren Barnes rhetorically.

poster of event “Most of them wore them to school on Monday!”

The Farm to EVERY Fork Forum is in its 2nd year and culminates from nearly three years of networking in the community and with public health groups concerned about healthy eating and active living. Much of this was done through the Healthy Sacramento Coalition, which Grace Presbyterian Church helped to found. Their good standing in the community meant that speakers were happy to participate in a compelling program.

This year’s FTEF followed the opening of Grace’s CalFresh/EBT weekly booth where folks can purchase fresh produce with their electronic SNAP (Food Stamp) benefits cards — year-around.
table display

“Grace is a small church with a big heart and vibrant outreach, especially involving food justice and population health,” says Rev. Barnes.

Indeed it is!

September 9, 2014

Food for All!

Posted 11:21am

Filipina woman with rice

The Food Week of Action – Sunday Oct. 12 through Sunday Oct. 19 – includes World Food Day (October 16) as well as the International Day for Rural Women (October 15) and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (October 17).

Daily actions are provided below, and see the Food Week of Action page for priority action, worship materials and more: http://pcusa.org/foodweek

July 30, 2014

Abundance in the City

Posted 10:00am

Interview with Rev. Karen Hagen, pastor of Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin about their new Rooftop Garden

You’ve had a community garden going for a few years now, but tell us about this new initiative.

Our Rooftop Garden has been completed and is growing with harvest coming. Education around the gardens has included the Webinar, local newspaper, garden blessing, and upcoming canning and food use in Divine Intervention’s food programing. We are participating in our synod’s just.good.food program as well.

How did you do it?

Approximately 14 volunteers worked on the Rooftop Garden installation, approximately 20 are working in our other gardens and maintain Rooftop Garden. Primary responsibility for garden care falls upon our Garden Keepers who are homeless and formerly homeless Guests of our Divine Intervention Ministry. Already we have approximately 100 lbs. of organic produce given away. We have developed relationships with 4 funders, 2 restaurants interested in produce grown locally, and 1 local greenhouse that will help us look forward to next enhancements.

Anything surprising happen?

More volunteers than anticipated and a deepening relationship with our neighborhood! One of the unexpected challenges came in relying on one of our partners to coordinate different aspects of the installation of Rooftop Garden. As we move to next aspects of our gardens, we will be proactive in taking on this role ourselves.

Do you have any recommendations for others that may want to try something similar?
Partnerships are key not only in accomplishing but maintaining the gardens. Continually inviting new people to become involved is important to maintain support as key volunteers may need to limit or change their volunteerism with project. Think forward!

Has this project changed your church or community in any way?

Yes! It has allowed us to see what is possible as we stay faithful to our vision and think and partner creatively. And, quite unexpectedly, new attention from the greater community is coming toward Tippecanoe in support and visitors to worship.

Here is the newspaper article about the initiative:

Two Milwaukee churches growing food & jobs