Let All Who Are Hungry Come and Eat
This piece first appeared in the Jewish Council for Public Affairs' Confronting Poverty e-newsletter and is republished with permission.
As the deadline approaches for Congress to reauthorize billions of dollars to support vital child nutrition programs, the local Jewish community, along with interfaith partners, child and anti-hunger advocates, school children, and Members of Congress, held a Child Nutrition Seder today in Washington, D.C. Based on the traditional Passover Seder to encourage, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs created a special Haggadah to explain the plight of hungry children in American and to encourage Members of Congress to quickly reauthorize and strengthen the Child Nutrition Act.
The national Child Nutrition Seder, led by JCPA President Rabbi Steve
Gutow, gave participants the tools to encourage federal, state, and
local leaders to meet President Obama's goal to end childhood poverty
by 2015. Leading portions of the Seder were Susan Sher, the chief of
staff for First Lady Michelle Obama, Max Finberg, the director of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood
Partnerships, and three Members of Congress: Representatives Jim
McGovern (MA-D), Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (FL-D), and Gary Peters
(MI-D). Representative Gary Peters read a portion of the Haggadah,
along with our friends from the faith and anti-hunger communities and
school children from Maryland and Arizona. Representative McGovern
encouraged Congress to pass a bill with greater funding so that child
nutrition programs can reach all those children in need. And
Representative Wasserman-Shultz discussed that as a mother, she
understands how important it is to provide for children. She also
discussed the value of healthy eating as well as physical fitness in
order to combat the obesity problem in this country.
The National Seder, as well as the other Seders being held in more than 30 communities around the country, couldn't come at a better time. Yesterday, Senator Blanche Lincoln (AR-D), Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, released a draft of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, the reauthorization bill of the child nutrition programs. Sen. Lincoln's bill takes positive steps in expanding program access to reduce childhood hunger and improves nutritional quality of the school feeding programs. Unfortunately Senator Lincoln proposed $4.5 billion in additional funding over the next 10 years. This is less than half of the $10 billion President Obama and the anti-hunger community believe is needed to properly expand these programs and reach more low-income children.
School children at the National Seder signed a letter to Senator Lincoln, asking the Senator to provide at least $1 billion in funding each year over the next ten years in order to expand access and provide more nutritious for the school feeding programs. To view the letter go here.
The National Seder, as well as the other Seders being held in more than 30 communities around the country, couldn't come at a better time. Yesterday, Senator Blanche Lincoln (AR-D), Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, released a draft of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, the reauthorization bill of the child nutrition programs. Sen. Lincoln's bill takes positive steps in expanding program access to reduce childhood hunger and improves nutritional quality of the school feeding programs. Unfortunately Senator Lincoln proposed $4.5 billion in additional funding over the next 10 years. This is less than half of the $10 billion President Obama and the anti-hunger community believe is needed to properly expand these programs and reach more low-income children.
School children at the National Seder signed a letter to Senator Lincoln, asking the Senator to provide at least $1 billion in funding each year over the next ten years in order to expand access and provide more nutritious for the school feeding programs. To view the letter go here.