The needs of the world are too great, the suffering and pain too extensive, the lures of the world too seductive for us to begin to change the world, unless we are changed, unless conversion of life and morals becomes our pattern.” – William Willimon

“{Cooking} connects us to nature: you’re working with nature and transforming nature into an artifact of culture.  And cooking connects us to other people.  If you’re going to cook, you’re not going to eat alone; you’re going to find someone to eat with.  There’s just a gift aspect of cooking……It connects and weaves families together as well.  Cooking has always been social.” – Michael Pollan

“Give back to the soil more than you take.  An addendum to this credo might be this: goodness in people, like goodness in soil, must be preserved and nurtured.  Give people more than you take………Tend not just the soil, but the soil people.  ‘Avad and shamar them, working and watching, serving and preserving them as if your own life depended on it.  Which, of course, it does.  Our role in creation is to offer everything back to God.” – Soil and Sacrament

“The interdependent family farms that once quilted the landscape have mostly been replaced by the markings of industrial agriculture, wealth accrued from the surrounding cities, or poverty.” – Chas Edens, CCDA Theological Journal

Today is World Food Day, which I discovered the other day on accident, while researching food deserts and thinking about Thanksgiving.   It occurs every year on October 16^th, and it is

‘a day of action against hunger. On October 16, people around the world come together to declare their commitment to eradicate hunger in our lifetime. Because when it comes to hunger, the only acceptable number in the world is zero.’ –WFD

So here are a few resources:

Empty Bowls (google for events in your area; their calendar doesn’t include everything)

The basic premise is simple: Potters and other craftspeople, educators and others work with the community to create handcrafted bowls. Guests are invited to a simple meal of soup and bread. In exchange for a cash donation, guests are asked to keep a bowl as a reminder of all the empty bowls in the world. The money raised is donated to an organization working to end hunger and food insecurity.

Equal Exchange Win Win Solutions Curriculum – Free!!

Equal Exchange’s curriculum offers 124 pages of interactive classroom activities. Composed of four units, the curriculum raises students’ awareness of the core issues surrounding food production and trade. It provides a link between personal actions and community efforts that create a more just and sustainable world.

Food Access Map

Find where food deserts or low access neighborhoods are.

A post I wrote on the 30 Hour Famine, fasting, and capitalism:

The kids aren’t even allowed to participate in the famine unless they raise money, and if they raise $120, they get a t-shirt.  There is a list that tells the kid’s names and how much they’ve raised.  There is a list that tells the names of all the donors.  There is even a donor ‘honor roll’ for the highest givers.  A friend’s church even gave away a Kindle as a prize for raising money.

Why are we capitalizing Christianity?

Click to find all posts in the series.