bread

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Tucson has announced its mission: "The community at St. Andrew's seeks to deepen our faith, nurture relationships, and feed our neighbors. You are always welcome here." 

What does it mean to feed our neighbors? For one thing it means welcoming people into our fellowship. For another it means hosting Neighbors Feeding Neighbors, the longtime ministry of The Rev. Deacon Jefferson Bailey and his crew as they prepare and deliver meals to elderly and other people in Armory Park, downtown Tucson, and beyond. 

Beyond ... speaking of that there are a couple of ways we are involved in the larger Tucson community. Neighbors Feeding Neighbors is an active partner of the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. We are listed among the sponsors of Interfaith Community Services too. These local food banks are part of a larger network, the Association of Arizona Food Banks. 

But how do food banks get their food? How do they get started in the first place? And how can we go beyond - that word again - these local efforts?

Well - here's one way to get started, give support (besides our gifts and donations), and make a difference in the wider world. Some decades ago a pastor on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Art Simon, realized that while the parish food bank and soup kitchen had lines stretching around the block and the clothes closet was very busy, they were only reaching a fraction of the need. What they needed was traction, and scale, that only federal government policy and action could provide. 

So they organized Bread for the World (USA) the Christian citizens' lobby, a nonpartisan ecumenical group that has worked for decades now, pretty effectively, to coax federal legislators toward policies that will combat and reduce extreme hunger - and poverty and all its causes - around the world and here at home. They have advocated for support of effective programs (food stamps, aid for women and families with dependent children, and more) that will help not harm food security. And they invited other congregations to join them. 

We can join them. And have some influence many times beyond what we can (so vitally) accomplish on the local scene. We can begin by writing our legislators, individually and as a church, during their annual Offering of Letters campaign. Details : https://www.bread.org/blog/conversation-about-2020-offering-letters

This year’s Offering of Letters has the potential to unite all of us around a cause that can literally impact millions of people.

By the way, should you wish to make an individual contribution to the work of Bread for the World, please give through your church. Make checks payable to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Tucson, and write "Bread for the World" in the memo line.