http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.aspxLatest Fast Facts from the ELCA2009-11-16T05:00:00For decades, poor countries spent more money repaying old debts than they did on health and education combined.http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-11-09T05:00:00According to the October jobs report, the official jobless rate now stands at 10.2%, up from 9.8 percent in September. This does not tell the whole story. More than one out of every six workers (17.5%) were unemployed or underemployed in October.http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-11-02T05:00:00Child poverty is more widespread in the United States than in any other industrialized country; at the same time, the U.S. government spends less than any industrialized country to pull its children out of poverty.http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-10-26T05:00:00From October 16-18, 2009, a record 173,045,325 people gathered at over 3,000 events in more than 120 countries in support of the Millennium Development Goals. "Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now!", has been certified by Guinness World Records as a new world record and remains the largest mobilization of human beings in recorded history. Learn more at www.standagainstpoverty.org.http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-10-19T05:00:00The World Bank estimates that there will be an additional 30,000-50,000 infant deaths, mostly poor and female, as a direct result of the worldwide financial crisis.http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-10-12T05:00:00This Friday, October 16, is World Food Day. According to the FAO, the objectives of World Food Day are to: 1) encourage attention to agricultural food production and to stimulate national, bilateral, multilateral and non-governmental efforts to this end; 2) encourage economic and technical cooperation among developing countries; 3) encourage the participation of rural people, particularly women and the least privileged categories, in decisions and activities influencing their living conditions; 4) heighten public awareness of the problem of hunger in the world; promote the transfer of technologies to the developing world; and 5) strengthen international and national solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty and draw attention to achievements in food and agricultural development. Get involved! Learn more at http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/worldfoodday/en/http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-10-05T05:00:00In the United States, 11.7 million children live in households where people have to skip meals or eat less to make ends meet.http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-09-28T05:00:00As our nation debates health care, consider the following: Uninsured children in the US are 70% less likely to receive medical care for common childhood illnesses (e.g., ear infections) than children who are insured. Do something about it! Visit http://bit.ly/elcahealth to learn more about the issue and how your church is responding to it. http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-09-14T05:00:00Hunger and related illnesses kill 25,000 people a day, more than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Not only does hunger kill more people, it also is a cause or catalyst for many disease processes.http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-09-07T05:00:00As our nation debates health care, consider the following: The connection between hunger and health is not a straight line, but a circle. Hunger means that there is inadequate food, meaning inadequate nutrition, making someone sick or highly susceptible to a variety of diseases. Illness increases the need for nutritious foods that cannot be accessed because illness also decreases productivity, which leads to hunger. Do something about it! Visit http://bit.ly/elcahealth to learn more about the issue and how your church is responding to it.http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-08-31T05:00:00A little bit goes a long way! A stack of 15 quarters equals one inch and will buy seven and a half pounds of seed to grow food. How many quarters would you need to collect to reach your pastor’s height? The ceiling of your sanctuary? How many pounds of seed could be bought with that? Join the 2009 Lutheran Youth Challenge and collect change for change! This year ELCA World Hunger hopes to unite the voices, offerings and hopes of thousands of young Lutherans to do something about hunger and poverty. Learn more at www.elca.org/youthchallenge.http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-08-24T05:00:00Tin, tantalum, and tungsten are minerals used for iPods, cell phones, digital cameras, and other electronics many of us use everyday. Armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo sell these minerals to companies for more than $100 million a year. Learn what you can do to be a part of the solution, visit www.elca.org/advocacy/congo.http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-08-17T05:00:00A little bit goes a long way! Just four quarters will buy a chick that will grow into a hen that will help a family start an egg business. Join the 2009 Lutheran Youth Challenge and collect change for change! This year ELCA World Hunger hopes to unite the voices, offerings and hopes of thousands of young Lutherans to do something about hunger and poverty. Learn more at www.elca.org/youthchallenge.http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-08-10T05:00:00A little bit goes a long way! Just one quarter will buy a half pound of seed to grow food. Join the 2009 Lutheran Youth Challenge and collect change for change! This year ELCA World Hunger hopes to unite the voices, offerings and hopes of thousands of young Lutherans to do something about hunger and poverty. Learn more at www.elca.org/youthchallenge.http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-08-03T05:00:00ELCA World Hunger kicked off the 2009 Lutheran Youth Challenge, "Change the World," at the National Youth Gathering. In under four days we raised over $130,000 towards the 2009 goal of $1 million! This year we hope to unite the voices, offerings and hopes of thousands of young Lutherans to do something about hunger and poverty. Learn more at www.elca.org/youthchallenge.http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-07-27T05:00:0030.5 million children participate in the Nation School Lunch Program everyday.http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-07-20T05:00:00“…economic growth originating in agriculture is at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as economic growth originating outside of agriculture.” - World Bank 2007 World Development Reporthttp://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-07-13T05:00:00“No country has been able to achieve a rapid transition out of poverty without raising productivity in its agricultural sector.” - Peter Timmer, Center for Global Developmenthttp://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-07-06T05:00:00“Of the people who are chronically hungry, 75 percent live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their earnings, either directly, as farmers or hired workers, or indirectly in sectors that derive from farming.” - 2009 Bread for the World Institute Hunger Reporthttp://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-06-29T05:00:00Check out the Poverty and Justice Bible, a new resource that highlights and comments on the nearly 3,000 verses in the Bible that speak to justice issues: www.povertyandjusticebible.org.http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-06-22T05:00:00In the last 60 or so years, the West has given about $2.3 trillion in aid. That amounts to about 60 dollars per person per year. Can we do better? Contact your congressperson to express your support of H.R. 2139 the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009. For more on the bill, visit http://www.offeringofletters.org/component/content/article/87.html. http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-06-15T05:00:00According to the Bread for the World Institute’s 2009 Hunger Report, “Forty-four percent of U.S. foreign assistance spending goes to just six countries, all allies in the war on terror of the war on drugs." (p. 90). Contact your congressperson to express your support of H.R. 2139 the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009. For more on the bill, visit http://www.offeringofletters.org/component/content/article/87.htmlhttp://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-06-08T05:00:00In honor of moms around the world, learn more about their strength, creativity, and resolve in a new Church World Service Resource, “Women and Climate Change”: http://www.churchworldservice.org/site/DocServer/CWS_Enough2.pdf?docID=1521http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-06-01T05:00:00According to the Bread for the World Web site (www.bread.org), in the developing world, 26 percent of children under 5 are moderately to severely underweight. 10 percent are severely underweight. 11 percent of children under 5 are moderately to severely wasted, or seriously below weight for one’s height, and an overwhelming 32 percent are moderately to severely stunted, or seriously below normal height for one’s age.http://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx2009-05-25T05:00:00According to the Bread for the World Institute’s 2009 Hunger Report, in 2007 the U.S. spent $21.753 billion on official development assistance, just .16 percent of the GNP (p. 100). Contact your congressperson to express your support of H.R. 2139 the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009. For more on the bill, visit http://www.offeringofletters.org/component/content/article/87.htmlhttp://webapps.elca.org/hunger/RSSFeeds/FastFacts.ashx