October hunger connections

October is here! This year there is an enormous convergence of special events, celebrations, and weeks that relate to hunger. Celebrate and share hunger information with your family, friends, and congregation.

OCTOBER is Fair Trade Month. Many of our congregations work with Equal Exchange or another organization to provide fairly traded coffee, tea, and chocolate for sale to members.  Some go farther and sell nuts, dried fruit, olive oil, and other products. (Zion Lutheran, Chisago City, clearly states on their web site that they serve Fair Trade coffee exclusively.) Make an extra effort to shop fairly this month.

OCTOBER brings Church World Service’s CROP Walks. CROP Hunger Walks raise money to assist hungry people in many countries around the world. They provide for people in need in our local communities as 25 percent of the funds raised stay locally. CROP Walks serve to remind us that no matter how we may set out tables, we are all members of one human family created in God’s image. Be a walker or support one financially.

Photo from www.churchworldservice.org/CROP

OCTOBER brings World Food Day on October 16. This day, celebrated in many countries is sponsored/promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, on the day on which the organization was founded in 1945. The theme for 2011 is “Food Prices—From Crisis to Stability.”

OCTOBER also brings Food Day on October 24—in 2011 and in years to come. Food Day seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way. The day is sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the nonprofit watchdog group, and is backed by an impressive advisory board that includes anti‑hunger advocates, physicians, authors, politicians, and leaders of groups focused on everything from farmers markets to animal welfare to public health.

OCTOBER ends on Halloween (All Hallow’s Eve), preceding All Saint’s Day. Don’t forget that you can do “reverse trick or treating” by sharing and explaining Fair Trade treats. The UNICEF boxes are still a good way to help hungry children—and online trick and treating for UNICEF is now possible.