Category Archives: Food Security

Returning to Others This Lent

Returning to Others This Lent

Mary Cunningham
March 22, 2018

“Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” – Joel 2:12

I have always been struck by the phrase “return to me” in Joel. In fact, I worked on a Lenten reflection guide during college bearing that very name. And yet, it was not until this year that I started to grapple with what the phrase really means and how it applies to me personally. Perhaps by working so closely on a project called “Return to Me” I felt I already fully understood the phrase, giving myself a pass to engage more deeply.

I tend to think of Lent as a personal practice, a way to evaluate my own faith life and identify where I can do better. While this is certainly important in returning to God, this Lenten season, that phrase took on a new meaning for me. As I began my Lenten practice, I realized that returning to God does not just mean focusing on my own prayer life; it also means returning to others.

I moved to Washington, D.C. at a pivotal moment in our nation’s history: a new president was elected who has a blatant disregard for the poor and marginalized. We were in new and unchartered territory. Now, working at a lobbying organization, I am often overwhelmed by the deluge of bad news. I constantly question if the work I am doing is making a concrete difference. At the same time, I’ve never felt like I was in a better position to change things.

This year at NETWORK one of my responsibilities was researching and compiling our Lenten resource on 21st Century Poverty. Working on this guide, I realized the importance of being both a witness to the suffering in our world and present to my neighbors. This takes place on both a small and large scale. Who are the people I interact with every day who might silently be suffering? And who are the people that I may not see every day, but who struggle from food insecurity, lack of housing, or low wages that keep them in poverty? I realize that I cannot complete alleviate anyone’s suffering, but I can be more attuned to it and help by asking myself, where can I return to others?

For me, Lent is coming to God, in my own brokenness and in my sadness at the brokenness of the world. In doing so, I am able to see where I can invest my energy and return to others. Then, the approach of Easter brings a promise of spring and new life for the world, where by returning to our neighbors, we return to God.

 

Broadening Horizons: A Deeper Understanding of Poverty

Broadening Horizons: A Deeper Understanding of Poverty

Mary Cunningham
October 10, 2017

“You’re going to Burkesville, Kentucky!” the headline of my email read. As a senior, I had decided to lead a spring break immersion trip to Appalachia, where I would accompany 12 participants from my college to engage in a week of service, immersion and solidarity with the community in Burkesville, Kentucky. I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect, but as usual, I was surprised.

Leading up the trip I did not understand what rural poverty looked like. I grew up in northern Massachusetts in a small, upper middle class town. I spent one summer during college interning at a church in downtown Boston, an area known for its large population of homeless individuals and high-concentration of drugs. Having been surrounded by this on a daily basis, I thought I had a pretty good understanding of what poverty looked like. My trip to Kentucky changed that.

Burkesville, a small, remote town in southern Kentucky has a vibrant spirit and a strong sense of community. And yet, as my week there unfolded, I noticed signs of poverty. We worked at the Burkesville elementary school where many of the kids were on a nutrition assistance program. Although the school provided some snacks, they were often unhealthy options. Talking with school administrators, we also learned that there were not a lot of viable job opportunities in the area. There was a large population of children and retired people, but there seemed to be a lack of middle-aged people contributing to the economic growth of the town. Seeing a community struggling with these issues was something I had heard about, but never encountered.

As an associate at NETWORK, I recently learned about the rural poverty I saw in Burkesville from a policy perspective. On September 28, I attended a briefing titled, “Urban and Rural Poverty in America” in the Rayburn House Office Building. One of the things that stood out to me was how a city’s remoteness and population size are connected to poverty rates. Research collected by the Salvation Army shows that states that are more remote and that have both high and low population concentrations tend to have higher levels of need than states that are less remote. Rural towns located far from large cities tend to have a harder time accessing government services and their residents are often underemployed. It was clear from the panel that these unique challenges facing rural communities make grappling with poverty across our country difficult.

Another interesting comment came from one of the panelists, John Letteiri, who works for the Economic Innovation Group. Mr. Letteiri noted that the decline of migration is one of the major causes of exacerbated rural poverty. He cited an interesting statistic: since the 1990s migration from rural to urban areas has fallen about 50 percent. Without mobility, residents of these rural towns are attached to the economic reality of their area. As I left the panel, I was left with a sharp reminder of my experience in Burkesville, Kentucky.

The way in which we understand poverty needs to constantly be reframed. We largely define poverty based on our own cultural perceptions, not the reality of the situation. As a society, we must take into account those who are forced into poverty due to social, economic, and political factors beyond their control and prioritize policies that support them. As poverty changes, so must our definition of it.

Travel Log: Erie Site Visit and Caucus

Travel Blog: Erie Site Visit and Caucus

Sister Mary Ellen Lacy, DC
July 19, 2016

On Tuesday evening, we arrived in Erie, Pennsylvania. We dropped in at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church where they have a meal and food program. We were able to have conversations with the guests who came to have dinner – and then after dinner, we helped each guest go home with a bag of groceries.

The site visits with people experiencing poverty are my favorite moments.  We can learn so much from those who suffer from poverty.  Tonight, through the example of good community, sharing the burden and openness were the lessons our Lord was to teach me.

1-erie1I sat with a young man, Franco, who came to the church every week for dinner with his friend Luke. Their ages were quite disparate but they were trusted friends. Each made sure the other had enough food, salt, and drink.  Franco immediately welcomed me to sit with them.  Franco came to the church because he knows that his faith and belly would be fed there.  He looked out for Luke because they were pals.

Then, I engaged with a young father and mother and their three little girls. They carpooled a mild distance with their neighbor every Tuesday because neither family had a paycheck and only one had transportation. The girls were aged 2-7 years and they were known to the regular servers by name. I was happy they called the people by name but my heart ached because they saw these babies so often that they knew them by name.

Lastly, I encountered Tish, a pretty young woman, about 21-years-old by my estimation. She had come for dinner with a friend who lived across the street. Tish told me that she had been coming to this church for dinner since she was nine years old.  We talked politics.  She said she felt it was unfair that Mr. Trump was not being given a chance.  Apparently, she had heard a lot of negative opinions, especially that Trump would be bad for poor people.  However, she thought that those speaking did not know him; they could not know him because they had never met him.  I suspected that she had been detrimentally prejudged in her life.  For whatever reasons, she thought we should give him a chance. All people deserved a chance.  I offered her our ‘side-by-side’ pamphlet that outlines each presidential candidate’s plans for our seven issues so that she could feel more informed as she pondered her vote.  She asked if she could keep it so that she could study it.  She was remarkably open.

It occurred to me that the people with whom I spoke knew how to live community well.   They looked out for one another; they shared resources; and they refrained from ugly judgement based upon ugly rhetoric.  This is why I see Jesus in our “Poor.”

1-erie2In the evening, we went to the caucus at St. Paul’s Parish Center. We divided the tables into our gap issues. Every team reported out after good discussions regarding visions of a nation wherein the gaps had been mended.  It was remarkable in that so many folks were willing to envision such a nation. Other times, we have needed to guide folks so they would not detour into a litany of problems.  These Erie people had the hope of a mended gap society.  They all noted that, if gaps were mended, community would be warmer, less violent, and more productive.  They were willing to continue the conversations past tonight, too.

We were fortunate to experience two different sets of conversations in Erie tonight. It is my hope that someday the people having the conversations at Holy Trinity will intersect with those having conversation at St. Paul’s.

See also:
Slideshow: Erie Caucus