What the Dr. Ordered: Action on the Farm Bill
December 7th, 2007 at 2:00 pm | posted by Field
I had the extreme personal honor this month of being invited to a morning with Dr. David Beckmann, the President of Bread for the World. It was unexpected and I was delighted: I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. The big issue up for discussion was the Farm Bill. It’s time to raise awareness and mobilize for real change.
Before we got started, I asked Dr. Beckman’s assistant if I could pass around the ONE petition, and thank the good Lord, before I left I stuffed a fistful of ONE bands in my bag, too. After we circled the room with introductions, I was asked by Dr. Beckmann to please pass ONE bands around the room, and the a sign-up form for ONE. I’m so glad I didn’t have the embarrassment of not having any on me! Well, this is interesting: all but one person in the room was already signed up and getting the action items and emails. That is so cool!
Bread for the World is an original ONE partner. The early ONE volunteers in our regions are indebted to their offices for taking our calls during 2004 and 2005 prior to an interactive yahoo site with groups and regional leadership, training, and toolkits.
I was anticipating a large sanctuary-full of people. Instead, I found myself in a comfortable setting with about one dozen other active members of the anti-poverty movement. The interaction with Dr. Beckmann and among the local activists proved invaluable. The partnership with ONE was commended often for our participation in hunger and extreme poverty and campaigns, such as ONE Vote ’08.
The Farm Bill is anticipated to hit the floor of the Senate later this week or the beginning of next week. We have been encouraged to contact our senators and ask them to support the “FRESH” amendments to the Grassley/Dorgan amendment, that would cap commodity payments to $250,000 per household, and the Lugar/Lautenberg Amendment that broaden the agricultural safety net by making a free revenue insurance program available to all farmers, saving billions of dollars to be used for nutrition, conservation, the McGovern-Dole international school meals program and more.
As noted in a previous blog, we either need to act now or we will have to wait five more years until the Farm Bill is revisited again. This Bill also addresses non-domestic agricultural trade issues, and as we enter the holiday season, we indeed can use our voice on behalf of the extreme hunger, to truly “feed the world, let them know its Christmastime.”
Stay Close,
Sammi in Seattle =)
December 7th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Way to go Sammi! We will push here in NH for real Farm Bill reform!
December 7th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
WHOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! From coast to coast ONE team ONE goal.
December 10th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Sammi: Congrats on a great blog post and a great meeting with Dr. Beckman. Great things are really being accomplished and your efforts are part of why that is happening.
December 10th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
ONE question: sammi stated on a U2 fansite that Bono has been the spokesperson for Bread for the World.
I don’t think that this is correct.
Bono has worked closely with Bread for many years and Bread is a founding member of ONE but I never remembered where Bono was a spokesperson for Bread.
Can somebody set the record straight?
Thanks - I just want to make sure everyONE’s facts are correct.
AS ONE, debbie
December 11th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Hi Debbie:
This is a good question, and took me a bit of research to answer. I think I can put the issue to rest.
Bottom line, both sides of this question are basically correct.
The term “spokesman” implies that the person is acting as an agent directly in service of an organization. Thus, a board member or paid Communications staffer may be referred to as a “spokesman” when speaking on behalf of an organization.
While that’s not the case here, he has been a long-time advocate personally of the fantastic and earth moving organization, Bread for the World. He has written letters in support of specific campaigns, and he has given the organization permission to use his image in specific circumstances, including selected materials and locations on their website where appropriate.
Moreover, Bread is a founding partner of the ONE Campaign. It is impossible to overstate the esteem between with which we hold our partner organization, Bread for the World.
So, while the term “advocate” would be much more appropriate, it is largely a grammatical, legalistic, or semantic distinction, and truly should not distract from the overall mission we all share, which is the eradication of extreme poverty and preventable disease worldwide.
Feel free to contact me with other questions like this, anytime, and thank you for everything that you do,
JoshC
December 12th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
This is a good question, and took me a bit of research to answer. I think I can put the issue to rest.
Bottom line, both sides of this question are basically correct.
The term “spokesman” implies that the person is acting as an agent directly in service of an organization. Thus, a board member or paid Communications staffer may be referred to as a “spokesman” when speaking on behalf of an organization.
While that’s not the case here, he has supported Bread for the World efforts. Most recently, he supported Bread’s Offering of Letters _One Spirit. One Will. Zero Poverty._ which mobilized people to ask Congress to make real progress on fighting AIDS and extreme poverty.
Moreover, Bread is a founding partner of the ONE Campaign. Bread for the World is a terrific organization. ONE is proud to work with them.
So, while the term “advocate” would be much more appropriate, it is largely a grammatical, legalistic, or semantic distinction, and truly should not distract from the overall mission we all share, which is the eradication of extreme poverty and preventable disease worldwide.
Feel free to contact me with other questions like this, anytime, and thank you for everything that you do,
JoshC
December 13th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
This is a good question, and took me a bit of research to answer. I think I can put the issue to rest.
Bottom line, both sides of this question are basically correct.
The term “spokesman” implies that the person is acting as an agent directly in service of an organization. Thus, a board member or paid Communications staffer may be referred to as a “spokesman” when speaking on behalf of an organization.
While that’s not the case here, he has supported Bread for the World efforts. Most recently, he supported Bread’s Offering of Letters One Spirit. One Will. Zero Poverty. which mobilized people to ask Congress to make real progress on fighting AIDS and extreme poverty.
Moreover, Bread is a founding partner of the ONE Campaign. Bread for the World is a terrific organization and ONE is proud to work with them. At the end of the day, we all share the same mission, the eradication of extreme poverty and preventable disease worldwide.
Feel free to contact me with other questions like this, anytime, and thank you for everything that you do,
JoshC