Happy Thanksgiving!
Today, in addition to giving thanks for our many blessings, we might think about how food is produced and how a more just national food system might be created. See top article in right hand column.
For any of you that might be considering attending a Night Walk here is information about their purpose and effectiveness. Photos and a video included.
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The Preferential Option for the Poor
A basic moral test is how our most vulnerable members are faring. Our tradition instructs us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first. See USCCB.
The preferential option for the poor is not intended to be a choice that we are free to ignore. Concern for the poor, expressed not as a pious wish but as a way of acting and making choices, should be our normal mode of behavior. Those of us who are not desperately poor need to train ourselves not to put our self-interests first. This applies to us when we make decisions and act individually and even more so when we make decisions and act collectively. We need to let our city council members, our state senators and assembly members, our county supervisors, our U.S. Senators and Representatives and our President know that we want the poor and vulnerable to receive priority consideration when legislation is drawn up, policies are established, and budgets are finalized. This is certainly not what is happening now. We need to work to make it so.
We can try to improve our collective and political decision-making and actions. Our own individual behavior is much more under our control. We can be mindful of the well-being of the poor and vulnerable when we make decisions about what to do or not do, about spending money and giving it away, and about how to acquire money in the future.
Today's discussion about the Preferential Option for the Poor continues the discussion on the Common Good in the October 23rd newsletter here and on the Human Use of Goods or Material Things in the November 13th newsletter here. The Church's doctrine on the Preferential Option is set forth here.
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Tri-Valley Poverty Initiative
As reported in the November 13th issue of this newsletter, a luncheon was held on October 30 to raise awareness of the recent rise of poverty in the Tri-Valley and a follow-up meeting was planned for November 13, see Nov.13 article.
The November meeting began with the attendees -- perhaps thirty or more -- introducing themselves. After a summary of past efforts to deal with local poverty and a brief critique of the October 30 meeting steps were taken to organize a new poverty effort, which, temporarily at least, will be called the Tri-Valley Poverty Initiative. The group will meet on the 2nd Thursday of the month beginning in January.
Among the organizations providing literature were Axis Community Health, (Medical Clinics or Behavioral Health, 925-462-1755, WIC Program, 925-462-2365, or www.axishealth.org),
Open Heart Kitchen, 925-580-1616 or www.openheartkitchen.org, Tri-Valley Haven, www.trivalleyhaven.org, EveryOne Home, www.everyonehome.org, or, to volunteer to help with the homeless count 510-862-0022 or http://vols.pt/ppkyM6, Wheels, www.wheels.com, United Way of the Bay Area, www.uwba.org, Child Care Links, www.childcarelinks.org, Abode Services, Paul Rosynsky at 510-657-7409 ext. 326 or www.abodeservices.org, Tri-Valley Haven, 925-667-2707 or www.trivalleyhaven.org.
The St. Vincent de Paul group serving Pleasanton has members who go out everyday responding to calls and providing help to the recently unemployed, mentally ill, homeless individuals, and others in-need. At a basic level they provide counseling on where to find other help and give out grocery gift cards for food. When requested they also occasionally help with a person's PG&E bill (to keep electricity on) or pay their monthly rent if otherwise they might be evicted. Contact Chuck Deckert, 925-890-4343 or chuckdeckert@comcast.net.
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Upcoming Events
Friday, November 28, 6:30 - 9:00 P.M.
Ceasefire Night Walk
At Thy Word Ministrles Church-God, 8915 International Boulevard, Oakland, map
Friday, December 5, 6:30 - 9:00 P.M.
Ceasefire Night Walk
Allen Temple Baptist Church, 8501 International Blvd., Oakland, map
Saturday, December 6, after 5:00 P.M. Mass and after all Masses Sunday, December 7
Concern America Handmade Craft Items on sale
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Toward Healthy Food and Farms: Transforming our Food System to Ensure Healthy, Sustainably Grown Food for All
How we produce and consume food has a bigger impact on Americans' health and well-being than any other human activity. A National Food Policy would coordinate government resources to guarantee that:
* All Americans have access to healthful food
* Farm policies are designed to support our public health and environmental objectives
* Our food supply is free of toxic bacteria, chemicals and drugs
* Production and marketing of our food are done transparently
* The food industry pays a fair wage to those it employs
* Food marketing sets children up for healthful lives by instilling in them a habit of eating real food
* Animals are treated with compassion and attention to their well-being
* The food system's carbon footprint is reduced, and the amount of carbon sequestered on farmland is increased
* The food system is sufficiently resilient to withstand the effects of climate change
In short, the policy would assure that all would have access to food that is green, fair, nutritious and affordable.
Excerpted from Food and Agriculture | Union of Concerned Scientists, link
Why We Need a Policy for Food, Health and Wellbeing
The question is not whether to establish national policies to shape the contours of the food system. The question is what food system we want. This nation already invests $100 billion tax dollars annually to support production, insurance and marketing of grain and oil crops, and to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-a program that testifies to this nation's failure to prevent hunger...
[T]he problem of hunger is not one of food production, but of economic inequality and lack of democracy. That is, a number of policies such as trade liberalization, regressive taxation and outdated minimum wage laws result in displacement of people, labor exploitation and poverty, the latter of which is the root cause of hunger in advanced economies. It is beyond irony, and should be a national shame, that the nation that sloganeers about "feeding the world" cannot prevent hunger-1 of every 6 Americans is food insecure-and instead expends billions in "social safety net programs." This is wasteful of both human and financial capital. We need more coherent policies.
In the simplest terms, our public policies should support the public good-such as creating jobs and healthful food-and not subsidize the bad: environmental degradation, chronic disease and hunger. Instead of expending tax dollars to support production of commodities that undergird the junk food diet, we should use public resources to support farmers who produce food in accordance with the official dietary recommendations of the Institute of Medicine and Department of Agriculture (USDA.) These call for a primarily plant-based diet. It only stands to reason that we should invest in regional market infrastructure and in support of farmers who produce the healthy fruits and vegetables that science recommends we eat for long, healthful and productive lives. UCS economic analysis demonstrates that this would require $90 million tax dollars annually-compared with the current $5 billion annual subsidies of commodity crops-and would result in net gain of 189,000 new jobs in local food systems and $9.5 billion in economic activity due to sales of healthy food. In fact, our economic analysis further demonstrates that if Americans did nothing more radical than eat the daily portions of fruits and vegetables recommended by the USDA, 127,000 lives and $17 billion dollars could be saved.
Excerpted from a blog post by Ricardo Salvador, Union of Concerned Scientists, Nov. 12, link
Other Resources
Bread For the World, http://bread.org/
Food First, http://foodfirst.org/
Catholic Rural Life, http://www.ncrlc.com/
A Petition
Petition to urge President Obama to issue an executive order establishing a national food policy, link
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Brief Links
How playing an instrument benefits your brain (NPR video), link
National Council of U.S. Society of St. Vincent de Paul, link
Alameda County Council of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, link
United Farm Workers, link
Equipping PhDs for careers outside of academia (Union of Concerned Scientists blog piece, Nov. 24), link
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