President Biden’s Covid-19 relief package is poised to bring a historic reduction in poverty rates, with nonmetro counties among the biggest beneficiaries.

As Christians, we are called to seek justice, care for those experiencing hunger and poverty, and embrace our Creator’s vision of hope, love, and peace. We are called to embody it in public as we commit to live in solidarity with those who are made vulnerable by the inequities that drive hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world.

Food banks are a lifeline for Arizonans in need. That has never been more clear than during the COVID-19 pandemic, when our food banks have seen 2–3 times as many people in their lines.

During Covid-19, food banks have been swamped, serving people who don't get SNAP benefits and millions more whose SNAP benefits don't provide enough food.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued an important new tool at the end of January to help states implement Pandemic EBT (P-EBT), which provides federally funded grocery benefits to replace the meals that children are missing when they’re not attending school or child care.

The Senate version of the Fruit and Vegetable Incentive Program Bill (SB1176) is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, February 2, 2021.

From Bread for the World comes this exceptional Special Report on COVID, hunger, and the racial disparities that have further deepened from it. It is well written, graphically interesting and worth reading.

Stories of deep, pervasive hunger have been among the more disturbing undercurrents of the past year. Food lines stretch for miles. About 29 million U.S. adults — nearly 14 percent of the adult population — said last month that their household sometimes or often didn’t have enough to eat in the previous seven days, according to the Census Bureau’s most recent Household Pulse Survey. The shares are even higher among Blacks, Latinos and households with children.

CBPP on January 22 released a statement from Dottie Rosenbaum, Senior Fellow and Interim Program Area Lead for Food Assistance, on the President’s new executive order that includes changes in food assistance.

New for 2021! Lent Action Guide, Calendar, Study and Reproducible Stories and more ask the question, “What will it take to end hunger?” New Forty Days of Giving resources for congregational use in planning educational and fundraising events at your congregation. From ELCA World Hunger.

In reality, the degree of financial distress turns less on which party controls a statehouse or a city hall than on the number of Covid-19 cases, the kinds of businesses undergirding a state’s economy, and its tax structure.

It’s hard to overstate the gravity of the situation. A new report by the advocacy group Hunger Free America found that total SNAP caseloads in 33 states, including Arizona, jumped from 32 to 35 million in the pandemic’s early months.

The 48-minute recording begins with devotions by Bishop Deborah Hutterer, followed by a personal story and remarks by Rev. Cho, then a Q&A section featuring both pre-submitted and impromptu questions by representatives from Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

President-elect Joe Biden is facing calls from anti-hunger groups to roll back some of the signature initiatives of the Trump administration, namely regulatory policies aimed at reducing the number of Americans eligible for food assistance.

On average, SNAP households received about $246 a month in fiscal year 2020, FRAC research shows. The average SNAP benefit per person was about $125 per month, which works out to about $1.39 per person per meal.

The presentations by Dr. Ryan Cumming of ELCA World Hunger and Ms. Angie Rogers of Arizona Food Bank Network for the LAMA Summit on November 7 were excellent ~ well worth viewing!

New for 2020! Advent Action Guide, Calendar, Study and Reproducible Stories for congregational use to plan educational and fundraising events at your congregation. From ELCA World Hunger.

More than 4 in 10 children live in households that struggle to meet usual household expenses. … The figures underscore the need for policymakers to agree on a strong, bipartisan economic relief package.