"Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless
poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not
to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like
the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the
glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard." — Isaiah 58:6-8
As Christians, it is our role to transform love into action and our privilege to share the blessings that God has given us with impoverished people of the world, whether they suffer from lack of f ood, clothing, shelter, education, health care or other necessities.
As Jesus calls us in Luke 9:48, "Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest" and we are all capable of making a difference in today's world.
Therefore, we must take a stand and lead the world away from the poverty of today, towards a brighter and better goal: the equality of tomorrow.
"...ways must be found to share more equitably the resources of the world...To begin to alleviate poverty, we support such policies as: adequate income maintenance, quality education, decent housing, job training, meaningful employment opportunities, adequate medical and hospital care, and humanization and radical revisions of welfare programs. Since low wages are often a cause of poverty, employers should pay their employees a wage that does not require them to depend upon government subsidies such as food stamps or welfare for their livelihood."
The Social Principles of the United Methodist Church
Other Six Days -Poverty Month
Although we often imagine far away third world countries when we think of poverty, 12.4 million children in the United States live in households where people have to skip meals or eat less to make ends meet. That means that one in ten households in the U.S. are living with hunger or are at risk of hunger. Within DC impoverishment is even higher: "Nearly 1 out of 5 ( 17.7% ) of DC residents - or 98,000 people - live at or below the poverty line."
How YOU can help LOCALLY:
- Volunteer at a food bank or soup kitchen. Some places to start:
- Capital Area Food Bank, Bread for the City
- DC Central Kitchen, Martha's Table
- Salvation Army
- SOME (So Others Might Eat) http://www.some.org
- Volunteer at a shelter or organization designed to help those recovering from poverty. Some places to start:
- Rachel's place
- Transitional Housing Corporation
- My sister's place
- Calvary women's shelter
- Volunteer on Campus:
- Hunger and Homelessness - Sundays at 1pm in Kay
How YOU can take a stand for JUSTICE:
- Write to your Congressional representative
www.visi.com/juan/congress/
• Read Growing Up Empty - Loretta Schwartz-Nobel